


A Journey Through Time

by dimensionhoppingrose



Series: Lost In The Stars [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Regeneration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-12-14 21:03:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11791437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimensionhoppingrose/pseuds/dimensionhoppingrose
Summary: —Sequel to A Place For Us To Dream— Reunited after years apart, the Doctor and Rose must struggle to re-find their footing with one another – and decide where they want to go next





	1. Getting To Know Each Other

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello! Welcome to the sequel to A Place For Us To Dream. As with that story, this is completely written and has been for a couple of years. Requests for changes to later chapters and "suggestions" for how to improve will not be accepted.

Rose was doing well.

Really well. Honestly the Doctor was surprised by how well she was doing sometimes. It was natural for him to wonder how much of it was her hiding her feelings from him – she had obviously become good at that. But it worried him. How much was she bottling up?

Rose, for her part, thought she was holding it together fairly well all things considered. She was holding it together, at least, which was probably more than the Doctor had expected. Donna was still with her family, leaving her and the Doctor alone on the TARDIS. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t looking forward to her friend’s return. She needed a buffer.

They were eating supper now, making small talk. Rose was telling the Doctor about Martha – skillfully avoiding any mention of the Master, she couldn’t stand the thought of having that conversation quite yet – but her sentences were punctuated with small yawns. It had been a long few days and she was exhausted.

But she didn’t want to go to sleep yet.

The Doctor wasn’t oblivious, of course. He politely ignored it the first couple times, but after the fifth interrupted statement he couldn’t turn a blind eye anymore. “Why don’t you get some sleep?” He suggested gently, and Rose ducked her head, busying herself with a sip of tea.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re exhausted.”

“I’m  _fine_.”

“It’s okay to be tired,” the Doctor informed her gently, standing up and taking her hand, pulling her up as well. “We can talk later. C’mon. Where’s your room?”

He was surprised when Rose ducked her head a bit, muttering, “I don’t know.”

“What?” Possibly the stupidest response ever.

“I don’t…I haven’t really slept in my room since…in a while.” He didn’t need to know the exact amount of time. “I usually just…fell asleep on the jump seat, or in the library, or…”

Her voice drifted off as she watched the Doctor’s face fall. He was angry.

She was right – he  _was_  angry. But not at her. Never at her. He was angry at the universe for putting her in this position, for turning her into  _him_. He was angry at himself for getting trapped in that damn universe in the first place, for taking so long to get back to her.

But not at her.

“Okay,” he said quietly, realizing his silence was probably worrying her. “Come on.”

He gave her tug, out the door. It would have been easy for the TARDIS to just pull her room up, but he had a better idea. The TARDIS gave a small hum of approval and pulled up the door he was looking for. “What’s that?” Rose asked wearily as the Doctor pulled her to it. She had never seen that door before.

“You’ll see.” The Doctor grinned as he pushed the door open. It was  _his_  room, actually. His mostly unused room, with its walls of bookcases and burnt orange sky ceiling and the bed right in the middle. Rose stopped in the door, looking around in surprise.

“Is this…?” She had never even thought to look for his room. She didn’t even care about her own room, why worry about his?

The Doctor tugged her along, stopping her in front of the bed and forcing her to sit. “It’s made of the softest material in the universe,” he said happily, and damn it all if he wasn’t right. Rose nearly sank right back against it when she sat down. It was  _lovely_.

“So what are we doin’ in here?” She asked after a moment, casting a look around the room.

“Well what do you usually in a bedroom? You sleep of course!” The Doctor grinned. Rose blinked at him.

“Doctor…” She didn’t want to sleep. Not yet. She knew she had to eventually, just…not yet. The Time Lord’s expression softened.

“It’s okay, Rose,” he said gently. He knew that look – it was the look of someone who afraid of what was waiting for them in their dreams.

He hated seeing that look on her face.

“Will you stay with me?” Her voice was small, like she was ashamed of asking. As if she had a reason to be.

“Of course. Where else would I go?”

She relaxed a bit at that, even smiling just slightly as she finally toed her shoes off and stripped her jacket away. The Doctor followed suit, kicking off his Converse and pulling off his suit jacket as Rose crawled under the covers. He laid down on top of the covers, snaking a hand under the blankets and slipping his fingers through hers, squeezing tight. She squirmed closer until she was pressed against him.

“This okay?” She breathed, already nearly asleep. The Doctor smiled.

“Absolutely.”

She fell asleep instantly, just another sign the Doctor was right – she was exhausted. He didn’t dare move, afraid of upsetting her fragile sleep. If he woke her up he knew she wouldn’t fall off again.

But a couple hours passed and Rose started muttering a bit – a clear sign that she was deeply under. The Doctor listened for a moment to see if he could discern anything from the mutters – he knew there was a lot Rose wasn’t telling him – but it was all nonsense.

He waited a bit longer before carefully easing away. He wouldn’t be gone for long, he reasoned. He really wanted to see the TARDIS – she seemed remarkably well kept and he was interested. Where had Rose learned to care for a TARDIS?

It was just a few minutes. Half an hour tops. Rose would be fine.

He’d been gone about ten minutes when Rose stirred, eyes blinking open lazily. The bed was so soft and warm, it took her a moment to register that she was alone in it.

“Doctor?” Her voice cracked a bit as she spoke, rolling over, examining the room. Empty. “Doctor?” A bit more urgently this time as she pushed herself up, head snapping left and right. Where was he? He’d said he would stay. Where was he?

All at once Rose’s mind roared to life, listing all the different possibilities. Had she hallucinated it all, perhaps? There were dozens of different aliens who had the capability of feeding her some illusion to placate her while they took her away…

And she had never seen this room before…

Blind panic set in before Rose could really think, and in a flash she was out of bed and running out the door. She didn’t even notice her surroundings – didn’t feel the TARDIS trying to comfort her. One overruling instinct was blocking everything else out.

 _Get out. Need to get out. Get out_.

The Doctor was still admiring the console when the jolt of fear went through him and his head snapped up. “What?” An urgent hum. “Is it Rose?” An affirmative hum. “ _Damn it_.”

He hurried down the hall, hearts pounding in his chest. Damn it he had only been gone for ten minutes, what had happened?

He turned a corner – and ran right into her. “Rose!”

The sudden collision should have snapped Rose out of her frenzied, but if anything it made her feel worse. She stumbled back, barely catching herself, eyes wide and wild, clearly not seeing the Time Lord standing before her. “Stay away!” Her voice was high pitched. The Doctor grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

“Rose, calm down–”

“Lemme go!” She struggled against his grip, trying desperately to get away even as he tried to keep her from bolting. “Let go, let  _go_!”

“Rose, stop, it’s  _me_ –”

“It can’t be!” Her voice broke, and the Doctor realized there were tears streaming down her cheeks. “It’s a trick, it’s just a trick again, just like…like…before on the space station it was Krop Tor, but it wasn’t, It’s just another illusion–”

“ _Rose_!” He didn’t mean to yell, he really didn’t. But it seemed to be the only way to get through to her. She finally stopped babbling, but that might have been because her breath was coming in choppy, uneven gasps. “It’s okay, see? You’re okay.”

She shook her head, trembling hands coming up to grip his shirt, fingers winding around the fabric as she held on for dear life. “Can’t…can’t…”

“Yes, you can,” the Doctor said firmly, moving his hands to rest against her cheeks, tilting her head up to look at him. “Follow me, okay? Breathe in…” He drew a deep breath in to show her. “Breathe out…”

It took a few minutes, but finally Rose managed to get her breathing in sync with his. His proud grin faded when her knees, already shaking, gave out and she buckled. He caught her quickly, holding her upright. “There you go. You’re alright.”

She shook her head, pressing her face into his shirt as she cried. “Sssshhh,” the Doctor murmured, brushing her hair back, holding her tight. “It’s okay. You’re alright. You’re okay.”

The TARDIS hummed gently, and the Doctor looked around to see his bedroom door right next to them. Perfect. “Come on,” he said quietly, ushering her toward the door – well, half-carried was more like it. She wasn’t supporting much of her own weight. It broke the Doctor’s hearts to see her like this.

It took a bit of maneuvering but finally they were sitting on the bed, and the Doctor pulled Rose into his lap without a second thought, arms winding tight around her once more. He was a bit surprised when she offered no resistance, instead curling right into him, face buried in his shoulder as she cried.

It was nearly an hour before the tears tapered off into sniffles and small gasps for breath. The Doctor’s hand in her hair didn’t still even as she calmed down, and she made no move to crawl out of his lap. She was perfectly comfortable there, actually.

“Sorry,” she murmured after another few minutes, and the Doctor looked down at the top of her head. “I didn’t mean to…to…” To what? To lose it so thoroughly? God he must have thought she was such an idiot after that display.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” the Doctor assured her gently. “ _I’m_ sorry. I shouldn’t have left.” Such a stupid move. The TARDIS could have waited until Rose was awake and there to answer his questions, even.

“I can deal with being alone,” Rose mumbled, her eyes not quite meeting his. She felt so stupid now. She had been alone enough, hadn’t she? It should have been no problem for her to be away from the Doctor.

“That doesn’t mean you should have to be,” the Doctor protested, feeling more like a jerk with every single second. How could he have left her alone? Everything about her screamed  _don’t leave me_. And he had done just that

He was such an arse.

He kissed her forehead gently, carefully pulling her up. “Let’s get you back to bed,” he suggested quietly. “I won’t leave you alone this time. I promise.”

Rose didn’t even have the energy to argue. They went back to his room and laid down, Rose snuggling against the Doctor’s chest, arms wrapped around him, almost clinging. The Doctor didn’t complain.

“Tell me about Tony,” she mumbled after a moment. The Doctor chuckled.

“Oh he’s brilliant. Curious, always curious about everything. I took him to museums a couple times when Jackie or Pete said I wasn’t allowed to go to work. He asked questions the entire time, about  _everything_.”

“He’ll be the brightest kind in his class when he starts school,” Rose murmured, smiling. She would forever regret not being able to meet her brother. But she was glad he’d gotten the Doctor, at least. He was a great surrogate sibling.

“You’re practically his hero.” Rose looked up at that, . “Jackie and I told him all about you. His amazing big sister.”

Rose ducked her head, blushing. “I’m not that great.”

“Shush, you’re brilliant,” the Doctor said fiercely. “Look at everything you’ve accomplished. Where’d you learn to take care of a TARDIS, anyways?”

“She taught me,” Rose said quietly. “It took a while…” Having to put her back together after the Master destroyed her had helped, but Rose didn’t want to talk about that.

“Learning how to take care of a TARDIS takes  _years_.”

Rose shrugged, smiling a bit sadly. “I’ve had the time.”

*     *     *     *     *

“What, you can really read Gallifreyan?”

The Doctor still didn’t believe it. That was a bit insulting, actually. “Well thanks to the bloody settings I could never fix, she refused to translate the Gallifreyan. So I either had to learn how to read it or start guessin’ a lot and hope I was right.”

“But…but that’s impossible.”

Rose raised an eyebrow, clearly a little amused. “Go on, then. Write something down. Let’s see if I can translate.”

A pad of paper and a pen appeared on the console and the Doctor grabbed it up, scribbling quickly and holding it up for Rose to see. She raised an eyebrow as she read, “Oh Doctor, you’re so handsome.”

“Oh Rose I’m flattered.” She stuck her tongue out at him, and he laughed as he wrote something else down for her.

“Rose Tyler you’re beautiful. Aaawww, why thank you Doctor.”

He scribbled something else down, holding it up again, and she frowned. “I can read it but I’m pretty sure I can’t actually  _say_  half those words, Doctor. So let’s just say science mumbo jumbo and call it square, yeah?”

“Yeah.” He set the pad aside, still looking a bit stunned. “You really taught yourself how to read Gallifreyan.”

“Well…the TARDIS helped a bit. I’m sure she wants credit.” The TARDIS gave a hum of affirmation, and Rose rolled her eyes. “She’s got quite the fragile ego on her, ya know.” Another hum, this one of annoyance. “See?”

The Doctor laughed. He was still getting used to the easy way Rose could interpret the TARDIS’ hums. He wasn’t sure he would  _ever_  get used to the fact that the TARDIS could actually talk to her. She had a habit of answering out loud, he’d noticed. He wondered if that was common.

“What about spoken Gallifreyan?” He asked curiously. He couldn’t help but hope a little. He may not have cared much for Gallifrey, but there was something horribly nostalgic about the thought of being able to have conversations with someone in his native language.

Rose shook her head, a bit regretfully. “Never really had a reason to speak it. I wouldn’t even know where to start, honestly.”

“I can help,” the Doctor said quickly. “I mean…if you want to, obviously like you said, there’s no reason, it’s not like…”

His voice drifted off as Rose leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. He was pretty sure he’d never get used to  _that_  either.

“I’d like to learn,” she said quietly. He beamed.

And that was how they ended up spending the day in the library listening to Rose try, rather clumsily, to learn spoken Gallifreyan. She had been pretty proud of herself for just learning written — and the Doctor was certainly proud of her for it too — but spoken was completely different. It didn’t sound like  _any_ language Rose had ever heard.

“Jesus, your people never made anything easy, did they?” She griped, pouting. The Doctor laughed a bit.

“Of course not. That was half the fun of it.”

His smile was a little sad. Rose shifted so they were sitting shoulder to shoulder and she leaned on him, top of her head resting against his neck.

“Tell me about it?” She asked after a moment. He had never told her about Gallifrey before. She wondered if he would open up now.

He was quiet for so long she was sure he wouldn’t.

“The skies were burnt orange…”

*     *     *     *     *

It became something of a habit, rather quickly, for the Doctor to join Rose when he wanted her to sleep (he noticed that she never said “I’m tired” or “I want to go to bed” — he always had to coax her to do so). Even if he wasn’t tired he would still lay down with her, holding her close. After the first night he had learned that leaving her alone was a bad idea.

He also learned that as long as he was easily accessible he didn’t have to hold her all night. Not that he minded, he just got restless. One of the first nights he fished her sonic screwdriver out of her pocket, examining it curiously. It was mostly like his, but she had added a few settings that he never would have even thought of. She woke up to him buzzing his own sonic screwdriver with hers, clearly comparing the two. She rolled her eyes but had to smile.

He spent a lot of time when he was laying in bed with Rose reconnecting with the TARDIS as well. Years away from the ship and the TARDIS bonding with another pilot had left their own connection a bit lacking. Not that the Doctor minded — he was happy Rose and the TARDIS had bonded, honestly. At least neither of them had been completely abandoned when he’d been trapped.

Still, he had missed the feeling of his ship in the back of his mind. And it was clear the TARDIS had missed him as well. She let him in eagerly, and a relieved whisper of  _My Thief…_ ghosted across his mind. He smiled.

 _Missed you too_.

When he wasn’t actively engaged in doing something else, he watched Rose sleep. That was a pastime he had engaged in a lot before they’d been separated — more than he was willing to admit and more than he would ever let her know. He had gotten to know her sleeping habits fairly well at one point. He had learned that she was a restless sleeper, tossing and turning and mumbling to herself and leaving the blankets a mess afterward.

But now…now she seemed a bit more reserved in her sleeping habits. She barely moved at all, and though she still mumbled a bit it was never anything loud enough for him to understand. The Doctor had wondered if maybe the lack of movement was because she was in his arms, but even when he wasn’t holding her she still held still.

He couldn’t help but wonder at the change.

It wasn’t long before “his” room started morphing into “their” room. It was little stuff at first — the TARDIS tucked a new dresser in the room, full of Rose’s clothes, and she found her toothbrush and toothpaste and hair brush in the bathroom — which had expanded to twice the size it had originally been, with two sinks and a towel rack that now had two towels on it.

Then one night they went to bed and found that the walls — which had been white — had turned mint green, Rose’s second favorite color (because the TARDIS knew the Doctor would  _never_  tolerate pink).

The Doctor and Rose looked around, examining the bedroom curiously. “Get the feeling she’s trying to tell us something?” Rose asked after a moment.

“Yeah. Can’t imagine what it might be.”

“Nope. Me neither. Such a subtle message.”

“Incredibly so. Don’t know how we’ll ever decipher it.”

The TARDIS gave an annoyed hum in the back of both their heads, and they laughed.


	2. The First Adventure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the delay. My fiancee and I went back to Austin last weekend to get the rest of my stuff, and most of Sunday was spent in the car, then I was immediately vaulted into another horrible week of work. You'll still get an update this Sunday as well.

Donna was rather impatient. Three weeks. It had been three weeks since Rose and the Doctor had left, and despite the firm promises that she was still more than welcome to travel on the TARDIS, she really was worried they wouldn’t come back.

Donna was standing outside with her grandfather, bouncing impatiently. “They’ll be back, sweetheart,” Wilf assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder to try and still her. “They wouldn’t just leave you.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

She was also rather worried about Rose, if she was honest with herself. The last time they’d seen each other the blonde had been nearly paper-white and clearly in pain – no doubt a result of everything the TARDIS had done in her head. Donna hoped she’d actually taken a chance to recover – she knew how Rose just loved to run straight from one thing to the next. Hopefully the Doctor made her take a break.

Then again it didn’t take a genius to figure out where Rose had gotten that habit from.

The familiar, wheezing sound of the TARDIS reached her ears and she perked up as the box appeared on the sidewalk in front of the house. “See?” Wilf said happily, giving her a quick hug. Donna grinned. As soon as the door opened and Rose stepped out she was wrapped in Donna’s arms.

“Oh! Hi.” Rose laughed as she hugged Donna back. “Uh, it  _has_  been three weeks, right? I let him drive and he brought me home twelve months late once so…”

“ _Once_ ,” the Doctor griped as he stepped out behind Rose. “I messed up  _once_.”

“Eighteen-seventy-nine instead of nineteen-seventy-nine.”

“Fine twice.”

“Cardiff eighteen-sixty-nine instead of Naples eighteen-sixty.”

“Oh alright so I have bad aim. Sue me.”

Rose was  _glowing_. It was the first Donna noticed when she broke the hug. The blonde was smiling and happy, her eyes brighter than Donna had ever seen them. She even seemed taller somehow, as if the weight of the responsibility she had taken on had physically weighed her down, and the Doctor’s return had taken that pressure off of her.

It was an amazing change.

“Ready to go, then?”

“Yeah, one minute.

Donna ran back to Wilf, hugging him tight. “Take care of yourself, sweetheart,” Wilf murmured, patting her back. “Go on now, before your mum gets back.” Sylvia was at the store. Thank god. She’d made it clear, after everything with the Daleks, that she detested the idea of Donna putting herself in that danger again.

But Donna would take the risk.

She was bouncing a bit as they made their way into the TARDIS, quite pleased. “Right,” the Doctor said brightly, bouncing to the console. “Where to first?”

“How about a new planet?” Rose suggested, looking at Donna. “Sound good?”

“No spas,” Donna said. Rose shuddered.

“Yeah. No spas.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “I’ll hear that story eventually, right?”

“Maybe.”

Donna made a face at Rose. So she was hiding things, then. Donna supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Right then. A new planet it is!”

*     *     *     *     *

Of  _course_  the first place the Doctor took Rose and Donna would be a place with unfriendly natives.

Of  _course_.

“Blimey, and I thought  _you_  ran a lot!” Donna complained as they burst through the TARDIS doors.

The Doctor was laughing, positively exhilarated, and after a moment Rose joined in, giggling. Donna eyed them both in disbelief.

“Nutters. You two are absolute nutters.”

She stalked off to take a shower. Rose was still laughing as she tossed her jacket over the coral stalk. God that had been  _wonderful_.

“Nothing like a good run to get the blood pumping, eh?” The Doctor asked with a grin as he sent them back into orbit.

“I think Donna might have been hopin’ for somethin’  _quieter_  her first trip back.”

“Oh where’s the fun in that?” Rose would have rolled her eyes if she hadn’t agreed just a little.

“Think I’m gonna grab a quick shower. Do me a favor and fin us place to go for dinner that  _won’t_  try to kill us? For Donna.”

“Oh  _alright_ ,” the Doctor sighed, looking entirely put out. Rose smiled, going to kiss his cheek.

“Thank you.”

As she made her way to their bedroom, the adrenaline from the run began to wear off, leaving her a bit tired — and with a stinging pain in her hand. She twisted it to see a cut. The natives had been throwing knives. One must have hit her.

The TARDIS gave a worried hum.  _Are you okay, my Wolf?_

 _Yeah, it’s just a cut. It’ll heal in an hour_.

Rose started to ache a bit as she climbed into the shower — it had been a while since she’d run like that. She have been out of shape.

 _Are you_ _ **sure**_ … _?_

_I’m **fine** , stop sounding like Mum._

Exhausted washed over Rose as she stood under the water. Her knees shook and she was forced to slide down to sit on the tub floor, breathing heavily as if she’d just run (another) mile.

 _My Wolf?_ The TARDIS sounded alarmed — with good reason, Rose supposed.

 _I…get the Doctor._  Something was wrong.

The Doctor was in the console room, still marveling at how well Rose had taken care of his —  _their_  — ship.

At least until an alarmed hum echoed loudly in the room. The Doctor’s head shot up to look at the ceiling. “What — is something wrong? Is it Rose?”

An affirmative hum sent the Doctor running to their bedroom.

Rise was still on the shower floor, shivering despite the warm water beating down on her, when the shower curtain flew back.

“Rose? What’s wrong?” The Doctor demanded as he turned the water off, grabbing a towel to wrap her up.

“I…I don’t know…I feel sick…”

No sooner had the Doctor gotten her out of the tub did she hurry to the toilet, collapsing and throwing up. The Doctor knelt with her, rubbing her back as she heaved.

“Let’s get you to the med lab,” he suggested gently when she was done. She nodded, standing shakily.

“Doctor? I don’t feel good.”

And with that, her eyes rolled back in her head as she collapsed. The Doctor caught her quickly, scooping her up and carrying her out.

Donna was just leaving her room when the Doctor hurried out. Her eyes widened at the sight of Rose, deathly pale and unconscious in his arms.

“Oh my god! What’s wrong with her?!”

“I’m not sure. Can you get some pajamas for her and meet us in the med lab?”

It was a sign of the dire situation that Donna as she was told without protesting the Doctor’s brusque tone.

The Doctor got Rose to the med lab and set her down on the bed before getting to work, starting with a blood sample. Donna came in as that was processing, and the Time Lord checked Rose over, looking for any sign of injury. He paused at the cut on her hand.

“Do you know how she got this?”

Donna leaned in to look. “Those nutters were throwing knives. Maybe one hit her.”

Oh…the Doctor really hoped not. The blood analysis beeped as it completed, and the Doctor moved to check it, his stomach dropping to his toes.

“What is it?” Donna demanded as Rose whimpered.

“She’s been poisoned.”

“What?!  _How_?”

“The knives are coated in poison. It’s common practice on that planet. Just a small cut is all it needs to get in.”

“And you didn’t think to mention that when we go back?!” Donna asked in disbelief.

“I figured if one of you got hit you would have mentioned it!”

“Rose could be  _shot_  and still not mention it!” Yeah…he probably should have known that. “So can you cure it?”

He shook his head slowly. “For anyone else it would be deadly. Rose is connected to the TARDIS, though. The only way she’ll die will be when the TARDIS does.”

“So what does that mean?”

The Doctor wasn’t entirely sure himself. “Hopefully it means this won’t kill her.”

A small groan distracted the Doctor, and he looked down to see Rose stirring a bit. “Hey.” He smoothed her hair back gently, and her eyes fluttered open.

“Ow…” She whimpered, breathing hitched.

“Sssshhh, I know. I’m sorry. I know.” He gritted his teeth, trying not to hate himself too much. If he had just  _asked_ , if he had caught this sooner… “What hurts, love?”

She took a deep breath, practically white under the sheen of sweat coating her tightly pulled face. “Everything…”

“Can’t you give her something?” Donna asked anxiously. The Doctor shook his head.

“It’s an unstable poison, anything I could give her would interact badly with it.” And probably just make her even sicker. He couldn’t risk that.

“S’not so bad…”

Oh if that wasn’t like a knife through both of his hearts. “Rest, Rose.” He squeezed her hand gently. She made a face but let her eyes flutter shut again.

“How long will it take?” Donna asked quietly. The Doctor shook his head.

“I really don’t know.”

~*~

Rose slept for a couple hours before her fever sky-rocketed. The Doctor had bullied Donna into going to get some sleep, and he was sitting by Rose’s bed when the machine beeped, alerting him to her rising temperature. He chucked the monitor, cursing when he saw 43C flashing back at him. Damn it.

Rose stirred, whimpering. “Doc-Doctor…?”

He took her hot little hand, squeezing. “I’m right here.”

She cracked her eyes open to look at him, gaze glassy. He put on the best smile he could for her. “Hullo.”

“’Lo…what’s wrong with me?” Her voice slurred a bit.

“You’re a little bit sick…” He let the words drift off as she raised an eyebrow. “Poisoned, actually. By the knife you didn’t tell me hit you.”

“S’just a scratch—” She cut off as she started coughing — loud, painful hacks. The Doctor helped her sit up to try and catch her breath. Now wasn’t the time for a lecture.

It took her a moment to draw in a shuddering breath. God she felt  _awful_. The room was spinning, everything hurt, and she was sure she was on fire. Her stomach rolled, and she groaned.

“N-Need…gonna…”

Too late. She at least managed to lean enough to throw up over the edge of the bed. The Doctor grimaced, holding her hair back she retched.

She felt worse when it passed; she collapsed back against her pillow, gasping in lung fulls of air the best she could. The Doctor gave her a moment to recover, smoothing her hair back gently before going to get some water for her. He came back, resting the rim of the cup against her lips.

“Slow sips…”

She responded sluggishly, sipping the water the best she could. She was completely drained by the time she was done; she fell back again, eyelids too heavy to keep open.

“Tired…”

“I know, love.” The Doctor brushed her hair back, hating himself. “It’s okay to sleep.”

So she did.

~*~

Donna came back a few hours later, clearly hoping for good news. She was in for a massive disappointment.

“How is she?”

The Doctor shook his head. “About the same.” If not worse. He’d been forced to put her on oxygen about an hour earlier when her lungs had begun to struggle.

It was a frightening reminder of how very human she was under the resilience and advanced biology.

Rose coughed weakly, jarring the Doctor out of his thoughts, and he winced when he saw a small trail of blood working its way out of her nose. He grabbed a tissue to wipe it up.

“She’s worse,” Donna said quietly. It wasn’t a question.

“She’ll be okay. She’s strong.”

Donna wondered who he was trying to reassure.

~*~

On and on it went, for days. Rose’s moments of lucidity during consciousness became fewer and fewer, her mind simply failing to cope.

While the Doctor took care of Rose, Donna took care of the Doctor, making sure he at and rested at least at semi-regular intervals.

He wasn’t very cooperative.

Donna was just coming in with a plate of sandwiches when Rose gasped awake, shooting up with a shriek.

“Rose!”

The Doctor caught her before she could pull out any IVs or wires, trying to keep her still.

“Don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me,  _don’t hurt me_ …” She whimpered over and over, and the Doctor’s hearts broke.

“Sssshhh Rose. I’m not going to hurt you. Look at me, please?”

She cracked her eyes open, staring at him blearily. “D-Doctor…?”

He smiled encouragingly. “That’s right. Hullo.”

“How…how did you…get here…?”

His brow furrowed in confusion. “Rose where do you think you are?”

“Valiant…”

He made a note to ask about that later. “No, Rose. You’re safe on the TARDIS. You’re safe. I promise.”

Thankfully she passed out again. The Doctor looked up at Donna, who was clearly bewildered. “What’s the Valiant?”

Donna shook her head. “No idea. Martha might know.”

That could wait for later. Rose made a small noise of distress as she slept, and the Doctor brushed her hair back gently, humming to try and calm her.

God he felt useless.

~*~

It was the ninth day before Rose’s fever began to creep down. The Doctor was relieved to see it drop from forty-three to forty-two.

That was progress.

“How is she?” Donna asked as she shoved a bowl of oatmeal at the Doctor. She had even put bananas in it.

“Still sick.” One degree difference wasn’t nearly enough to declare her healthy.

“Gee I figured that one out for myself, thanks.”

It was odd, Donna thought, seeing Rose looking so…human. Odd and off putting.

She didn’t like it.

The day passed quietly, and Rose’s temperature eventually dropped down to forty. When she stirred and opened her eyes, her gaze was exhausted but clear.

“Hey,” the Doctor said quietly, smiling. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a pathetic squeak. “It’s alright, don’t try to talk. Just relax, okay?”

She nodded once, eyes closing again. She would tire easily for a while; no doubt that would aggravate her.

~*~

It was another day before Rose managed to stay awake for more than a few minutes. And of course the first thing she asked for was a bath.

“I feel disgustin’,” she protested weakly at the Doctor’s uncertain look. “Please?”

The Doctor sighed. “Fine. But you take it easy.”

“Of course.”

Getting her into the bath was a bit of a project, but they managed. The warm water soothed Rose and she relaxed, sinking down with a sigh. The Doctor settled down beside her, tucking a pillow behind her head so she could be comfortable.

“Thanks,” she murmured. He squeezed her hand gently.

“Of course.”

They sat in silence for a while. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” The Doctor asked finally. Rose shrugged wearily.

“I didn’t even notice until I went to take a shower. And it was just a scratch.”

“It almost killed you.”

“You and I both know that wouldn’t have happened, Doctor.”

“That doesn’t mean you should throw yourself into danger willy-nilly.” He paused. “Eugh. Willy nilly.”

“Not to put too fine a point on it.” Rose pushed herself up to face the Doctor. “But  _you_  put us there. I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“And then you got hurt and didn’t tell me.”

It was a  _scratch_!” Rose shook her head, leaning forward to drain the tub. “Forget it.” She wrapped the towel around her and pushed herself up shakily. The Doctor moved to help her as she wavered. “Don’t.” He flinched back as she snapped.

It took a lot of effort, but Rose managed to get herself out of the bathroom and out of the med lab. The TARDIS hummed gently, pulling up a door and front of her, and she went in — it was her old bedroom.

She found a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt and dressed before collapsing into bed, completely exhausted. That had taken a lot out of her.

Honestly, who did he think he was? She could take care of herself just fine, she didn’t need him…

The thought hit Rose hard.  _She didn’t need him_. But that was a lie, of course it was. Of course she needed him. What was she thinking?

The TARDIS gave Rose some time before she allowed the Doctor to find the blonde. Rose was almost asleep when the Doctor walked in, but she jerked up instantly, eyes wide when she saw him.

“Doctor…”

He was a little sunned when she stumbled out of bed, throwing her arms around him and clinging.

“Don’t go…”

 _That_  caught him off guard. “I won’t,” he said quietly, holding her tight. “Never. I promise.”

She was shaking as she held onto him. He kissed the top of her head, smoothing her hair back. “Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”

“Stay?”

He scooped her up, carrying her back to bed. “No place else I would rather be,” he assured her as he tucked her in, settling in beside her when he was done. She rolled to press herself against him.

“I love you…”

He held her tight, rubbing her back. “I love you too.”

*     *     *     *     *

The Doctor trailed behind Rose and Donna as they walked along, clearly exhilarated. He had agreed, with much trepidation, to take them to the biggest mall in the universe. They could shop until they dropped.

The Doctor really wanted to stop them before it got to that point, though. Rose was still recovering. The last thing he wanted was her pushing herself too much.

Not that Rose was paying much attention — she and Donna were talking over one another, trying to figure out what store they wanted to go into next.

“Do you think we can get a shopping cart or somethin’?” Rose asked, looking around. They had only been at it for an hour but they had already collected an impressive amount of bags.

“Who needs a shopping cart when we’ve got a Time Lord?”

They turned in unison to look at the Doctor, and he nearly groaned. He couldn’t say no to Rose though.

And that was how he ended up carrying their bags as they ran into yet another store. It was all horribly domestic.

But the Doctor couldn’t say he  _hated_  it.

“What do you think?” Rose asked, holding up a dress for Donna to examine. The redhead tilted her head, examining it closely.

“Very nice,” she finally declared, and Rose grinned, tossing it into the “try on” pile. She made a face when she saw Donna examine a shirt that was on a display table and then toss it down.

“Oi, oi,” she grumbled, going to pick up the crumpled shirt and folding it right. “Don’t make more work for the poor shop girls here.”

“Sorry,” Donna apologized. They gathered up the clothes they wanted to try on and headed back to the dressing rooms.

The Doctor sat outside the store, sighing as he eyed the bags at his feet. It was going to be a long day.

God was he write about that. Six hours later he felt as if his arms were about to fall off, but Rose and Donna were still going strong.

Mostly, at least. Rose’s breathing was starting to get a bit heavier, the energy draining slowly from her still-recovering body.

“Donna?” She called as the redhead started to pull ahead. “Can we take a break?”

The Doctor was at her side in a flash, abandoning the bags in favor of helping Rose to a nearby bench and sitting her down. “Are you alright?”

Donna sat down on Rose’s other side, frowning. Rose leaned forward, taking a deep breath and resting her elbows on her knees. Still, she managed to put on a smile for the worried duo on either side.

“Yeah, just gettin’ a bit tired.”

“Why don’t I go get the TARDIS?” The Doctor suggested gently. The ship was pretty far away — he wasn’t sure Rose would be able to do the walk back. “The food court’s right there, you two can get somethin’ to eat.”

Rose made a face but gave in with a sigh. “ _Fine_.”

She was secretly relieved that the outing was almost over — she was honestly exhausted. She barely ate, and when the Doctor came back, saying he’d parked the TARDIS in a nearby maintenance hall, she was the first to stand. As soon as they got inside she went straight to their bedroom, collapsing into bed.

The Doctor joined her a few minutes later, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. “You alright?” He asked gently. She nodded, rolling to press her face into his chest and taking a deep breath.

“Just a bit tired.”

“Get some sleep, then.”

He started humming to lull her off to sleep. It was wonderful.


	3. Mortality

Donna yawned as she made her way into the kitchen. She was a bit surprised to see the Doctor there, already making breakfast. It was taking time to get used to having a third person around — and a bloke no less.

At least this time she had remembered to actually get dressed instead of wearing her horribly thin nightgown that didn’t cover a damn thing. Thank god Rose had been there to cover up that bit of awkwardness.

The blonde was absent at that particular moment, however. “Rose still sleeping?” Donna asked as she went to make her tea.

“Nah, just in the shower. She’ll be out in a few.”

Donna nodded, making her tea in silence. She took a sip before venturing, “She really loves you, you know.”

“I’d gathered,” the Doctor said neutrally without looking up from the pancakes. Another sip of tea before Donna continued.

“I don’t remember much from that uh…that universe. You know the one you found me in. But I know she was dead.” The Doctor just nodded, a bit stiffly. “I think it was because she’d given up. Because she’d lost you and her family and she didn’t see a point anymore.”

“She died because you weren’t there to save her.”

“No I know, but…I do remember what she was like when I first met her. Completely lost and hopeless. She had no idea what she was doing. And why would she? She was just a kid, really. Just a young, scared kid. She was completely overwhelmed the entire time, I kept waiting for her to just break down and start crying. She didn’t, though. She made it all the way to that point and when she blew out the walls of the Thames I think…I think she really was considering just staying there. Didn’t see the point if she was alone in this universe.”

The Doctor finished the pancakes, setting them on the plate. “No offense Donna, but what’s the point?” He didn’t really think about Rose wanting to kill herself.

“The point is that she really loves you, you great big outer space dunce. And if you ever hurt her all the regeneration thingies in the  _world_  won’t save you.”

Rose walked in just in time to see the Doctor pale a few shades. Thankfully she didn’t notice.

*     *     *     *     *

“You want to  _what_?”

“ _If you have a problem with it_ …”

“Nononono not at all!” The Doctor made his way out of the bathroom, rubbing down his damp hair. Rose was laying in bed, talking on the phone with Martha. “Just a little surprised is all. If you want to date him all the power to you, but I warn you — he snores.”

Martha laughed at that. “ _We’re going on_ _ **one**_ _date, Rose. I’m not too worried about his sleeping habits yet._ ”

“Well let me know how it goes, yeah? And don’t do anythin’ I wouldn’t do.”

“ _You ran off with an alien. The list of what you would do is_ _ **probably**_ _pretty small_.”

“Oi, rude.” Rose giggled. “Talk to you later.”

“ _Yeah, bye_.”

“Who’s she going out with?” The Doctor asked as he flopped down on the bed, and Rose shifted to lay against him.

“Mickey asked her out, I guess.”

The Doctor laughed — until he realized Rose was serious. “What? Really?” Rose nodded. “Blimey. Good for you McMickity.”

Rose smiled, closing her eyes, and the TARDIS dimmed the lights. She’d always known Martha would get along with Mickey if they ever got the chance to meet. True, she couldn’t have predicted  _this_. But it kind of made sense. They both deserved the best, and that was exactly what they would get with one another.

She really hoped it worked out.

*     *     *     *     *

It was still odd to wake up in the Doctor’s arms.

Not that Rose minded – it was nice and comfortable and safe. Especially when the nightmares came.

Rose shot up with a shuddering gasp, her entire body trembling. “Ssshh, it’s okay, it’s okay,” the Doctor said gently, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his chest. She curled into him instinctively, tears welling her in her eyes. “It’s okay, you’re okay,” the Doctor murmured over and over, running his fingers through her hair and rocking her a bit. He was good at taking care of Rose after her nightmares.

She was grateful for that.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before the Doctor dared to venture, “Who’s Jenny?” Rose stiffened in his arms, and he knew that was a dangerous question.

“Why do you want to know?” She asked, dodging the question.

“You were muttering in your sleep. You kept saying her name.” Actually it had been  _Jenny no no no no Jenny no please_. But that was just splitting hairs.

Rose squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment before forcing herself out of bed, and the Doctor winced. There were some things she didn’t like to talk about. This was clearly one of them.

Rose walked to the bathroom, rubbing her eyes furiously as she shut herself in. She slid down against the door, hands resting on her knees. If she focused hard enough she could still feel the pain of the machine taking her DNA.

She had been dreaming about Jenny, of course – holding her in her arms, begging her not to leave, watching the light drain out of the young woman’s eyes…

Rose blew out a shuddering breath, pressing her forehead against her knees. She was surprised when the Doctor gently slipped into the bathroom and knelt down wither, rubbing her back gently, comforting her. “Ssshhh, it’s okay. Ssshhh.”

It took her another moment to recover. When she lifted her head to look at the Doctor, tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Oh Rose…”

He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. “Who’s Jenny?” He prompted gently, and she shook her head. No, she didn’t want to talk about Jenny. Not now.

Not yet.

The Doctor didn’t push her, thankfully. He just held her close and tight, kissing the top of her head, rocking her gently, trying to help her calm down. She held on just as tight, face pressed into his chest. After a bit she drew in a shuddering breath, clearly trying to recover herself a bit.

“Okay?” The Doctor prompted gently. She nodded a bit. “Are you sure? It’s okay if you’re not, you know.”

“I am,” she whispered, laying back down and pulling him with her. She nestled into him, hiding her face in his shoulder and breathing deep.

“I love you,” she whispered, and he smiled a bit. He would never get tired of hearing that.

“I love you too, Rose. So very much.” He brought a hand up to run through her hair, trying to help her find some measure of peace and comfort. It must have worked; within a few minutes she fell asleep again.

*     *     *     *     *

“You two should come,” Donna insisted as they prepared to take her home. It was Wilf’s birthday and he had insisted she be there for it. He had also requested that she bring Rose and the Doctor, but she knew that was going to be a bit more difficult.

“It sounds like it’s more of a family affair,” Rose said gently, trying to find a way to get themselves out of the situation. She knew the Doctor wouldn’t really want to go, and if she was honest  _she_  didn’t want to go either.

Besides, she really wanted a chance alone with the Doctor. She loved Donna, she really did, and she would be devastated if and when Donna decided to leave.

But some alone time would be nice too.

“Gramps wants you there.”

“Your mum probably doesn’t though.”

Donna hesitated at that. As Wilf had been saying, “ _Bring those two along_ ,” Sylvia had been the background saying, “ _They’ll probably bring an alien invasion with them_!”

Rose smiled a bit, seeing the thoughts at war in Donna’s head. They landed the TARDIS outside the Noble house. “Go on. We’ll pick you up in a couple days, promise.”

Donna sighed, pulling Rose into a hug. They’d lost this fight, then. “Right, then. Try not to get into too much trouble while I’m gone.”

“No promises,” Rose and the Doctor said at the same time, and she rolled her eyes at both of them before leaving. They were both absolutely ridiculous.

“We could’ve gone if you wanted to,” the Doctor said as they headed back into orbit. Rose shook her head.

“Like I told Donna, it sounds like a family thing. I wouldn’t want to invade.” She’d tried to keep herself as separate as possible from the Noble family. After what she had done to the Jones family…it seemed necessary to reduce as many casualties as possible.

“Besides.” She turned the Doctor, grinning. “Shiver and Shake need some time alone.”

The Doctor laughed.

*     *     *     *     *

“What the  _hell_  were you thinking?!” The Doctor demanded as they banged through the TARDIS doors. The ship was abuzz with nervous energy as her slightly singed pilots stormed around the console room.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Rose asked, a bit annoyed. He didn’t seem to get the whole not breakable anymore thing – he insisted on treating her like she couldn’t do anything. It was frustrating.

“You could’ve gotten yourself killed!”

“I wasn’t too worried about that.”

“Clearly!”

Rose sent them back into the vortex, coughing a bit as she turned to face the Doctor. “I don’t get it. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that it was a  _chemical fire_ , Rose. Who knows what you inhaled.”

“Somehow I think I’ll be okay,” Rose said, a bit scathingly. “Now if you don’t mind I’m gonna go shower. Unless that’s too dangerous now as well?”

“Med lab first, I want to give you a check up.”

“I don’t need a bloody check up, I’m  _fine_!”

And with that Rose turned on her heel and stormed out. The Doctor sighed as he collapsed into the captain’s seat, running a hand through his hair.

Their leisurely day while Donna was home for her grandfather’s birthday had been rudely interrupted when the TARDIS had decided to drop them outside of a research facility in the thirty-third century. Not without reason, of course – it was the facility that would cure cancer in just a few short months, but someone was trying to sabotage the research. The building was set on fire just a few hours after they’d arrived, and Rose, in a brilliant fit of stupidity, had run back in to rescue as much research as she possibly could. Good for the timelines, bad for her lungs.

But of course she wouldn’t listen to reason.

Rose coughed as she stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her body. She didn’t care what the Doctor said, she knew she’d made the right choice. If that research had been destroyed it would’ve set them back  _years_. A little trouble breathing and an ache in her chest was worth the benefits.

 _Go easy on him, my Wolf_ , the TARDIS coaxed as Rose got dressed.  _He is not used to this_.

“Well I don’t–”

The breath caught in Rose’s lungs and she coughed harshly, sending a shooting pain through her chest. Oh god that  _hurt_. She sat down hard on the edge of the bed, rubbing her chest and trying to catch her breath. But every failed inhale just caused more pain and she coughed again, lungs flailing.

The Doctor was still in the console room, staring dejectedly at the center console when the lights flickered suddenly, and panic gripped his mind. “What?” He shot up at once. “What’s wrong? Is it Rose?”

An affirmative hum was the only answer he needed; he took off down the hall, finding his and Rose’s room and bursting in. Rose was doubled over on the bed, coughing and gasping as she tried to get air in, but to no avail.

 _Damn it_.

The Doctor scooped her trembling, desperate body into his arms and hurrying to the med lab, which the TARDIS was kind enough to move up across the hall. He set Rose down on the bed, grabbing the oxygen machine and dragging it over, pressing the mask to Rose’s mouth as he turned it on.

The effect wasn’t quite as immediate as he had hoped for. Oxygen was forced into Rose’s starved lungs but it took her another moment to actually catch her breath. The sound of that first inhale was lovely, though.

“Ssshhh, you’re alright,” the Doctor murmured, brushing her hair back as she whimpered. “Deep breaths now, come on…”

She shook her head. “ _Hurts_ …”

“I know it does love but I need you to breathe deep anyways. Just try. For me? Please?”

He knew it hurt and he hated seeing her in pain like this. But breathing was important. She continued to pull in small, incomplete huffs, clearly afraid of hurting herself again. The Doctor sighed. He didn’t like it, but it was the best he could hope for he supposed.

“I’m gonna examine you now, okay?” He asked quietly. “See if I can figure out exactly what the problem is.”

Rose nodded, curling up and closing her eyes. The Doctor slid out of bed, pulling over what looked like an x-ray machine – but there was no radiation and it would give him a picture of her organs rather than her bones.

“Rose lay flat please.” It took her a moment to comply. When she was laid out he put the head of the machine over her, taking a couple shots. The pictures loaded on a nearby computer and he went to take a look.

He sucked in a sharp breath when he saw the state her lungs were in. “Blimey.”

Rose opened her eyes wearily to look at him. “What’s wrong?” Her voice was muffled by the mask. The Doctor zoomed in and printed out the picture of her lungs, bringing it over to show her.

“These are your lungs.” He sat down on the bed, tracing the shapes in the picture with his pinky. “See how they’re almost completely black?” She nodded. “They’re not supposed to be like that. Those are burns from going into the building. Smoke inhalation and probably whatever chemicals had burned and were in the air you were breathing.”

Rose’s lips pulled into a faint frown. “What’s that mean?”

“It means your lungs are completely burned right now and it’s a bit of a miracle you’re still breathing.” He didn’t mean to be so blunt about it… but he  _had_  warned her about this. Rose squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her face into his shoulder.

“You can fix it, right?”

“Oh, of course!” The Doctor said brightly, bouncing up and throwing Rose’s balance off completely; she grabbed the edge of the bed to keep herself steady. “It’s going to take a couple days, with that amount of damage, but I’ll have you good as new in no time, promise.”

He kissed the top of her head and went to one of the cabinets against the wall. “Hang on… hang on… aha!” He grinned, producing an oxygen mask attached to what looked like a small bubble. “See, just fill this–” He tapped the bubble, “with the medication, have you inhale it for about an hour every six hours, the medication will get into your lungs and heal the damage.”

“How long’s that gonna take?” Rose mumbled uncertainly. She trusted the Doctor of course, but she was always wary about using medications from time periods after her own.

“Oh… three days. Four at the most.” As he spoke he found the medicine in the back of the cabinet, filling the bubble. “No time like the present to get started though!”

He walked back to Rose, carefully slipping the oxygen mask off. Rose’s lungs instantly started burning, and she huffed desperately to try and get air that didn’t hurt. “Try and breathe normal, Rose,” the Doctor said gently, pressing the other mask to her face. She whimpered, forcing herself to pull a full breath. It  _hurt_. She was pretty sure the Doctor was full of it – she sat there struggling for an hour and felt absolutely no difference when he finally put the oxygen mask back over her nose and mouth.

“Give me a few minutes to get some stuff arranged and we can move to the bedroom,” he told her gently. She barely noticed – she was already falling asleep.

The Doctor didn’t bother waking her up. He moved some equipment to their room and went back for Rose when he was ready, scooping her into his arms. She coughed weakly when she was taken off the oxygen, breathing raggedly, but it was only a minute before he was laying her down and slipping a cannula around her face. She relaxed as the oxygen flowed again, drifting back down into the darkness.

~*~

The next few days were utterly miserable. She slept a lot, mostly because she couldn’t do anything else but also because trying to heal was exhausting.

The Doctor was right there the entire time, of course, tending to her and entertaining her when she was awake and bored and administering her medicine.

“I don’t think this is workin’,” she muttered halfway through the third day. She didn’t feel any less miserable.

“It is,” the Doctor assured her. “I promise it is. Just relax, okay?”

“Can’t get much more relaxed than this.”

She was so utterly put out, and the Doctor felt bad. He laid down with her, pulling her into his arms, and she rested her head against his chest.

“Your last scan looked a lot better than your first. Did you see it?” She shrugged. He brushed a hand through her hair, a light frown pulling at his lips. “Have you ever damaged your lungs before?”

Rose lifted her head to look at him. “  I don’t really remember. Why?”

“Well with the burns healing – quite well, I must say – I’m actually getting a good look at your lungs for the first time. It looks like there’s some scarring there.”

“I don’t… oh! It might be from the car exhaust.” The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed. “I took Martha to New Earth. Somethin’ went really, really wrong there and most of the population ended up trapped on a giant highway. Martha was kidnapped and I had no other way of gettin’ to her so I started hopping down the rows from car to car. It was pretty nasty, there was more car exhaust in the air than actual oxygen…”

“You’re joking.” She shook her head. “You’re lucky you didn’t–”

“Die, yeah, yeah, yeah.” Rose sighed, waving him off. “You sound like Martha.”

“I’m starting to think Martha’s the only reason you’re still alive.”

Rose just dropped her head back down to close her eyes. Well he wasn’t totally wrong.

~*~

“I still don’t see what your fascination is with chips in London,” the Doctor grumbled as they made their way down the street. Rose grinned at him.

“Because they’re the best chips in the universe. And I’ve eaten chips in a lot of different times and places. What do you think I was doin’ all that time without you?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. Part of him didn’t doubt that Rose had been doing exactly that – spending all of her time going place to place testing chips.

But he also knew better.

“Rose!”

They stopped at the sound of someone calling Rose’s name, and the blonde’s eyes lit up. “Martha!” The woman was making her way down the street with Mickey trailing behind her – ooooh, that was interesting. Rose and Martha embraced tightly, a bit like long-lost sisters. The Doctor had to smile at it.

“How are you?” Martha asked as she pulled away. “Staying out of trouble?”

“Of course.”

“No.”

Rose and the Doctor spoke at the same time. She scowled at him and he just raised an eyebrow back. Martha looked between them.

“What happened?”

“S’nothin’,” Rose said quickly, looking back. “What’s going on with you – oh!” She’d just caught sight of the ring on Martha’s finger. “Is that…?” She looked up at Mickey and then at Martha, who grinned in return. “Oh my god, congratulations!” Rose hugged her again quickly before grabbing her hand to examine the ring. “Oh that’s nice… you’re lucky, the only piece of jewelry he ever got me was a bottlecap necklace.”

“Oi!” Mickey complained while Martha laughed. Rose beamed brightly.

“Right then. I think I’ll be taking Mickey for a minute, if you don’t mind. Gotta talk to him about a few things.” She was still smiling, quite innocently, as she grabbed Mickey’s arm and dragged him away, saying, “You can buy me chips I’m sure you owe me,” while Mickey spluttered away, clearly scared for his life.

Martha just laughed, watching them go before turning back to the Doctor, her smile fading a bit. “How is she, really?” She knew Rose well enough to know when the woman was trying to put one over on her. She’d never been very good at that. The Doctor sighed.

“Can I ask you a question?” Martha nodded. “How often did Rose get hurt when you were with her?”

“Oh  _god_ ,” Martha groaned, tugging at a lock of hair. “Well the first time I met her she nearly got herself killed by a Plasmavore. Um there was that time on New Earth when she went hopping through rows of running cars. Lazarus – bloke who turned himself into a monster, she used herself as bait to lure him away, uh… that spaceship that was falling into the sun, she got possessed and–”

“Okay, point taken,” the Doctor interrupted, feeling a bit sick. “She got hurt a lot.”

“She was just stupid and reckless sometimes. I tried to make her check in with me after I left so I would at least know she was still alive but I mean… you know her. She’s not gonna do anything she doesn’t want to do.” Yeah the Doctor knew that all too well. “It’s better for her when she has someone to take care of her, though. Or at the very least someone to drag her out when she throws herself into the fire.”

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, sighing deeply. “Thank you for taking care of her,” he said after a moment, and Martha waved him off.

“Please. She’s my best friend. That’s nothing to thank me for.”

Mickey and Rose were making their way back – Mickey looking a bit scared and like he’d lost a few years off his life. Rose was still smiling away as she munched on her chips. She walked to Martha, holding the cup out.

“Chip?”

*     *     *     *     *

“She’s not coming.”

“Martha stop  _fidgeting_. She’ll be here.”

Martha Jones sighed, shooting a look out the window as her mother attempted to fix her dress – again. The wedding was starting in twenty minutes and  _of course_  Rose still wasn’t there.

If she didn’t show, Martha would do her best not to be too hurt. She knew coming back to Earth for stuff like this was hard for Rose.

It stung a bit though.

“She’s not coming.”

Right on cue, the door opened. “Who’s not coming?” Rose asked curiously as she peeked in. Martha beamed.

“You’re here!”

She ran to the door, ignoring Francine’s protests, and wrapped Rose in a tight hug. “Of course I’m here silly,” Rose said with a laugh as she returned the hug. “Piloted myself and everything, I didn’t trust the Doctor not to show up three days late in the middle of your honeymoon. Did you actually think I wouldn’t come?”

“Well you’re pretty bad about this stuff, Rose. No offense.”

“Oi!”

Mickey took a deep breath as he straightened his tie, examining himself in the mirror. Clide and Leo had already left to prepare for the procession. Mickey knew he had to go soon too, but he just needed a minute.

He turned to the sound of a knock at the door, and groaned when the Doctor popped his head in. “Just what I want on my wedding day, an alien invasion.”

“I’ll have you know we are invited we are invited guests of the bride,” the Doctor huffed, and Mickey smirked.

“Yeah, where is your better half?”

“Went to see Martha.” The Doctor stepped into the room fully, shoving his hands in his pockets. “And Donna’s here too, she went to get a seat already.”

“She’ll be glad you turned up. I am too,” he added honestly. The Doctor grinned.

“Even if aliens invade?”

“Yeah. Even if aliens invade.” He laughed.

Rose and the Doctor met up and took seats in the back as the ceremony started. “Just think,” the Doctor whispered to Rose. “That could be you in Martha’s place.”

Rose snorted a bit, resting her head on the Doctor’s shoulder and squeezing his hand.

“Martha can have him.”

The ceremony was quick – exchanging of vows and rings and a kiss – and Martha and Mickey couldn’t have looked happier if they tried.

“What is it with all the girls falling for Mickey Mouse?” A familiar voice murmured behind Rose, and she jerked around to see Jack sitting there, grinning.

“Jack!”

As everyone stood Rose threw her arms around Jack, hugging him tight. “Oh it’s so good to see you. Where’ve you been?” She’d tried calling a few times but he hadn’t picked up.

“Oh, here and there.” Jack waved his hand carelessly. “Torchwood’s kinda… gone and I got my teleport working again–” He winked, “so I’ve been traveling.”

“What about Gwen? Ianto?” Rose regretted that question at the look of pain that flickered across Jack’s face. “Never mind–”

“No, it’s fine. Gwen’s pregnant, she and her husband moved somewhere remote – pretty much off the map, they don’t want to be bothered. Ianto… died about six months ago.” He pushed on before Rose could say anything. “Anyways I’m pretty sure we need to make an appearance at the reception so shall we?” He offered Rose an arm.

“Oi,” the Doctor grumbled, clearly put out. “Pretty sure she’s my date, Harkness.”

“Sorry, Doctor. You can have the other arm if you want.”

Rose laughed.

The party was already in full swing by the time they arrived. Martha and Mickey were surrounded by a crowd of well wishers, so they hung out in the back, watching the party. Rose caught sight of Donna chatting up a bloke.

“Blimey she works fast.”

The DJ announced that it was time for the bride and groom dance, and everyone cleared the dance floor. Rose shifted to lean against the Doctor, and he wound his arms around Rose’s waist, holding her close.

They didn’t stay at the reception long. Jack took off first, almost as soon as he talked to Mickey and Martha, leaving Rose and the Doctor alone in the back.

“I get it now,” Rose said quietly, and the Doctor looked down at the top of her head, making a face. “It’s already been two years since I met Martha. It feels like yesterday. I really didn’t want to come today. I did for Martha but just… it’s another reminder, you know? They’re getting older. They’re…”

“It’s the worst part of being close to anything you know you’re going to outlive,” the Doctor said quietly, pressing a kiss to Rose’s hair. “You’re aware of it the entire time. That before you know it this person is going to die and you’re going to be alone.”

Rose relaxed into his arms, turning her head to press her cheek into his suit and taking a deep breath.

“You never have to be alone again,” she whispered, and the Doctor smiled as he tilted her head up to kiss her.

“And neither will you.”

Eventually Donna fought her way through the crowd to find them, beaming brightly. “Ready to go?” The Doctor asked.

“Oh, no – I was actually gonna say I’m gonna hang around for a few days.”

Rose tilted her head to look around Donna, at the man standing a few feet away. “Mmmhm.” She looked back at Donna, who stuck her tongue out.

“Shut up.”

“What’s his name?”

“Shaun Temple. He wants to go out for coffee tomorrow.” Donna was clearly excited. Rose had to smile a bit.

“We’ll pick you up in a couple days, then?”

Donna hugged Rose quickly before hurrying back to Shaun. “She looks happy,” the Doctor commented idly. Rose stepped back to him, taking his hand.

“Come on. Let’s go home.”

They walked back to the TARDIS with their intertwined hands hanging between them. “Alright?” The Doctor asked quietly. It wasn’t often that Rose addressed mortality and hers versus everyone else’s. She rested her head on his shoulder, sighing deeply.

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a day late this time, go me. Sorry guys, turns out consolidating two apartments into one is a lot harder than my fiancee and I thought it would be.


	4. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter before Journey's End

Donna left them a month later.

Really, she’d left them the day of Martha’s and Mickey’s wedding, when she met Shaun Temple. She tried to keep up with the Doctor and Rose but every other day she was asking to go back to Earth. Which was perfectly fine, of course, they had no problem with that. But it wasn’t a conducive way to have a relationship, and Donna knew that.

“Call us whenever you want a trip,” Rose said as she hugged Donna tight. She wouldn’t lie – it was a bit of a blow to see Donna go.

But Donna had to live her life. And Rose wasn’t going to stop her.

“Keep her in line, beanpole,” Donna said as she stepped back, and the Doctor chuckled.

“I will, don’t worry.”

He was surprised when Donna hugged him as well before turning and hurrying off to her house. Rose watched her disappear inside before turning back to the Doctor, smiling sadly.

“Never gets easier, huh?”

“Not even a little.” The Doctor wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and they went back into the TARDIS. “I think she’ll be happy though.”

“As long as this one is better than the one she had when I met her. Did I ever tell you that story?”

“Actually, no.” The Doctor sent them into the vortex, looking excited for story time.

“Okay, well, it started when she appeared on the TARDIS…”

*     *     *     *     *

“ _So cold…”_

“ _Throw her out!”_

“ _Get rid of her!”_

 _She screamed silently as the arms closed around her, dragging her toward the door. No, no, no, no,_ _ **no, no no no nononononoNONONONO!**_ –

“Rose, wake up!  _Rose_!”

She shot up in bed, chest heaving as she tried desperately to gather air – and failed.

And then a pair of arms folded around her and for a moment she was back on the bus, Biff dragging her to her death–

“ _ **NO**_!”

She shoved herself away from the body that was pressed against hers – and hit the floor hard. The impact brought her back into her head and she gasped, staring up at the ceiling of the bedroom she shared with the Doctor.

The Time Lord appeared in her line of vision, clearly concerned. “Rose? Are you okay?”

She was shaking as she picked herself up, leaning heavily against the bed – she couldn’t even stand. The Doctor shifted to help her up, pulling her back onto the bed. She whimpered, pressing into his chest and trying not to cry.

“Ssshhh.” The Doctor held her tight, brushing her hair back and kissing the top of her head, rocking her gently. “It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re with me. I won’t let anything hurt you. You’re okay. I promise.”

Trembling fingers curled around the fabric of his shirt as Rose tried desperately to hold on to reality. The Doctor held her tighter, whispering sweet nothings to help keep her grounded.

It was nearly an hour before Rose calmed down, which worried the Doctor. Who had held her through her nightmares before? Martha? Donna? Had Rose had to handle this on her own?

“S-Sorry,” Rose finally managed to gasp, blinking heavily as she focused on the Doctor. “I’m sorry.”

“Sssshhh.” The Doctor pressed a light kiss to Rose’s lips. “You don’t have anything to apologize for, love. Do you want to talk about it?”

Rose burrowed against him, pressing close as she tried to figure out where to start. “Have… have you ever heard of the planet Midnight?”

“Oh, yeah!” He sounded so excited. “That place sounds brilliant – sapphire waterfalls!”

He was so happy at the thought of it. Rose closed her eyes, swallowing hard.

“I went there with Donna. Found a brochure while we were out shopping, thought it sounded like fun, ya know? Sapphire waterfalls, come on. It sounds amazin’, right? There was a spa there so Donna decided to stay behind, said four hours on a bus sounded boring. So it was just me and a small group of people. We were about… halfway there? I don’t know. But the bus broke down. Which would’ve been bad enough, people panicked a bit about that as it was, but then things got… weird.”

She shuddered, and the Doctor rubbed her back gently. It took her a moment to continue. “There was this… thing. I don’t know what it was, I never figured it out. But it got into the bus, and it possessed this woman, Sky. She started repeating everything we were saying, which just made everything worse, everyone was freaking out and talking about throwing her off the bus and I tried to stop them but the thing… it got into my head and possessed me instead.”

The Doctor’s arms tightened around Rose at that, and she let out a long breath, squeezing her eyes shut. “Everyone turned on me and tried to throw me out of the bus, but the Hostess realized the thing was still in Sky and she threw Sky out instead – and herself.” Rose took a deep breath, pressing closer to the Doctor.

“I am so sorry,” the Time Lord whispered, rocking her gently.

“It was awful,” Rose managed to breathe out in return. “The TARDIS closed herself off when the thing got into my head – she had to, if it had gotten to her…” That would have been a disaster and the Doctor knew it. “I know why she had to do it, I understand, but god I felt so alone, so lost… and it was so cold…”

She shivered, ducking her head as the tears started falling, and the Doctor wrapped a blanket around her, holding her tighter still. He knew the cold was imagined now – it was quite warm in the room, actually – but the added security couldn’t hurt. The reminder that she was somewhere warm and safe.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s okay.”

He would  _never_  let anything like this hurt her ever again.

*     *     *     *     *

Rose smiled as she stirred in the Doctor’s arms. He always stayed with her, even when he didn’t necessarily need the sleep himself.

She was grateful for that.

“Mornin’,” she murmured, nestling closer to his bare chest. He pressed his lips to the top of her head.

“Morning. Sleep well?”

“Mmmhm.” She moved to kiss his chest. “How’re you?”

“Well… that depends on your answer to my next question.”

Her eyes fluttered shut again as she nestled against him, unbelievably comfortable. “Hmmm?”

“Will you marry me?”

She shot up at that, blinking owlishly. “Huh?”

He had to grin a bit at the look on her face. “Will you, Rose Tyler, marry me, the Doctor,” he repeated, thoroughly amused. He had clearly caught her off guard. Good. That was the whole point.

It took Rose a moment to orient herself. “You…you’re serious?” She asked quietly, and the Doctor’s ego took a bit of a hit. Had he miscalculated?

“I…I mean…if you don’t…it’s not a big deal…I…”

He drifted off as Rose leaned in, pressing her lips to his. The kiss was slow as Rose tried to put literally every single thing she was feeling into that one gesture.

“Yes you idiot,” she whispered against his lips, grinning slowly. “Yes, yes, yes. God yes.”

He grinned back, ego bolstered once more. “Yes? Really yes?”

“Yes!” Rose giggled, kissing him again. “Are you sure, though? That seems  _horribly_  domestic.”

He brushed her hair back from her face and clasped her cheeks in his hands as he kissed her once more. “If this is domestic, then I’ve never wanted to do domestic more in my entire life.”

Rose grinned.

~*~

A few hours later they were still in bed, relaxing following the rather…intense celebration of their engagement. Rose was resting on the Doctor’s chest, finger lazily drawing Gallifreyan symbols against his chest, lulled into a sense of peace by the sound of his double heartbeats.

“So how does it work?” She asked after a minute. “A Gallifreyan wedding, I mean.”

“Oh…we don’t have to do that,” the Doctor murmured, brushing a hand through her hair. “We can do a regular old wedding, on Earth—”

“With who?” Rose raised a head to look at him. “I don’t have any family left there anymore, Doctor. And I don’t want a human wedding. Maybe later we can go and drag Mickey and Martha and Donna and Sarah Jane off for a small reception or somethin’ but I just want the actual wedding to be the two of us. So tell me. What does a Gallifreyan wedding involve?”

Oh god he loved her so much. “Well…there’s a traditional…thing. Like vows, I guess. I can teach you how to say them. And we choose a place of significance for the um…the ceremony. And we exchange the vows and um…”

His voice drifted off. This was the part he wasn’t sure about. The part he wasn’t sure  _Rose_ would be sure about.

“What, Doctor?” She prompted gently, and he met her gaze. She really wanted to know.

“Well…you would usually forge a telepathic bond with your spouse, but I know how you feel about that and we don’t have to—”

He cut off as Rose pressed her lips to his. “Tell me about the bond,” she said quietly.

“It would basically be…I’d be in your head. All the time. Kind of like the TARDIS is. We’d be able to talk to one another, and I could see your memories and stuff — what you want me to see, I mean. You can block anything you don’t want me to know.”

Rose considered this for a moment, then nodded. “Okay,” she said, kissing him again. The Doctor blinked in surprise.

“What, really?”

“If you’re okay with it I am.” She smiled. “If I have to have one more person in my head for the rest of eternity, I’d love for it to be you.”

The Doctor laughed at that. “Your poor head is getting so crowded.”

“It’s not so bad.”

She settled back against his chest, smiling contently. “So what do you  _wear_  for a Gallifreyan wedding?” She asked curiously.

“Oh there are traditional robes and what not, we don’t have to do that though. They’re a bit hokey to be honest. Oh!”

Rose was quite unamused when he suddenly vaulted out of bed, going to retrieve his pants from the floor. “I got…hang on…”

He fished a small velvet box out of his pocket, and Rose raised an eyebrow. “You got a ring?”

“I thought you might like a ring.” He sat down on the edge of the bed, popping the box open. And Rose’s mouth dropped. It was  _beautiful_. The pink band was studded with small diamonds leading up to one big diamond on top. On the inside of the band was a carving in Gallifreyan —  _Forever_.

“Doctor…”

“Is it okay?” The Doctor asked anxiously. Rose nodded, a bit stunned.

“Yes. Oh god yes, definitely. It’s wonderful.”

The Doctor grinned, taking her hand and sliding it onto her finger. It fit perfectly, of course. Rose examined the ring curiously. It looked wonderful. “Okay, now get back into bed,” she ordered, and he laughed as he complied. They settled back in, the Doctor cuddling Rose close.

“What happens when you regenerate?” She asked suddenly. “I mean…with the bond. Will we still have it?”

“Mmhm.” He tapped his temple. “Still the same old mind, just a new casing. We’ll still be bonded just fine.”

“Good.” She kissed his chest. “If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it right.”

“Absolutely.”

*     *     *     *     *

In the end, they decided not to go with the traditional Gallifreyan robes. The Doctor found a set in the wardrobe room and he was right — they were hokey. Rose found a nice dress and the Doctor elected to go with his usual pinstripe suit.

Now they just needed to pick a place. Rose already had an idea in mind.

“It’s a surprise,” she informed the Doctor as they got ready. “Sit down and close your eyes.”

“…Are you serious?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you think?”

…Oh yes. She was serious. The Doctor sighed as he sat down, making a show of covering his eyes. Rose grinned, going to the console. They landed with a gentle bump and Rose took the Doctor’s hands, pulling him up. “Keep your eyes closed,” she ordered, pulling him toward the door. He did as he was told, trusting her to pick the right choice.

He wrinkled his nose when they stepped outside and a familiar smell hit his nose. “Apple grass?” He guessed, opening his eyes at last and looking around. They were standing on the same hillside they had landed on originally, the sun setting on the horizon.

It was beautiful.

“This was our second date,” Rose said with a grin, kissing him. “Is it okay?”

The Doctor nodded enthusiastically. “It’s perfect.”

They walked right to the edge of the hill, hand in hand. A light wind came to life as they stood there, looking out at the thriving city below.

Such a difference from the last time Rose had been here. But she didn’t want to think about that.

She had more important things to think about.

She turned to look at the Doctor, smiling. “Ready?”

He took both her hands in both of his, squeezing tight. “Ready.”

The first part of it was all very simple. They exchanged the rings — the Doctor had picked out a simple golden band for his own ring, with  _Forever_  carved into the surface in Gallifreyan — They recited the vows — Rose’s Gallifreyan was almost perfect, and the Doctor couldn’t have been prouder of her if he tried.

Then came the slightly more complicated part. “Are you sure about this?” The Doctor asked one more time, and Rose nodded firmly.

“Yes.”

He nodded. “Okay.” He brought his hands up, gently resting them against her temples. “Ready?” She nodded again, and he closed his eyes, his mind brushing against hers.

 _Don’t resist_ , he said gently, and he felt her start a bit — mentally and physically.  _It’s okay. Just me. I’m not going to force anything, just let it happen naturally_.

After a moment Rose relaxed, allowing the Doctor to slide into her mind.

He was almost instantly blown away. Her entire mind scape was  _gold_  — pure, pulsing gold. If he concentrated really hard, he could feel the TARDIS — the wonderful old ship humming happily in the very back of her head.

At least she approved.

_Rose?_

It took her a moment to answer — the Doctor realized he could already feel her in his head. She was probably just as taken aback as he was.

 _Yeah. I’m here. Hi_.

_Are you okay?_

_Yes. God yes. Better than okay. Keep going_.

That was reassuring, the Doctor would admit. He already saw some doors — memories she didn’t want him to see, he guessed. He didn’t push that. He had some doors himself. He felt Rose brush against one without realizing it and he winced a bit.

 _Sorry, sorry,_  she said quickly, pulling away.

 _It’s okay. Don’t worry_. He would let her see eventually. But not yet. Those memories were too dark for this occasion.

He did, however, give her one thing — one precious thing. The most precious thing.

Rose started as it whispered across her mind.

_Is that…?_

_Yes_.

Love like nothing Rose had ever felt before she swelled up inside her. If they hadn’t been so preoccupied she would have kissed him right at that moment.

They lost track of time as they stood there, forging the bond between their minds. The sun had long since set by the time the Doctor lowered his fingers from his temples. The new bond was still humming between them, a golden spot in the back of the Doctor’s head.

It felt  _wonderful_.

Rose stumbled a bit, and the Doctor caught her quickly. “Whoa, okay, easy.” He held her upright, letting her rest against his chest.

“Sorry,” she murmured, taking a deep breath. “Bit lightheaded.”

“Yeah, that happens. Take all the time you need.”

It was a few minutes before she felt able to hold herself up. She looked up at him, beaming. “I can feel you,” she breathed, sounding amazed. The Doctor grinned.

“Yeah. I can feel you too. Is that okay?”

“Absolutely.”

And with that she pressed her lips against his.

The kiss became heated quickly, and the Doctor backed Rose up against the TARDIS doors without breaking away. After a moment Rose lifted herself off the doors just enough so she could snap her fingers, and the doors swung open, allowing them to make their way inside.

*     *     *     *     *

It took the happy couple a few days to actually get to the hotel the Doctor had booked for their honeymoon — a very human concept that Rose certainly wasn’t about to complain about. He had booked their room under Doctor and Mrs. Tyler, which amused her to absolutely no end. The planet they’d landed on was beautiful — or so the Doctor said.

In truth they hadn’t left the hotel room since they’d checked in.

At the moment they were just laying in bed, blankets twisted around their naked forms. Rose was half asleep against the Doctor’s chest, his fingers tangled in her hair.

 _I can feel you,_ Rose whispered in his head, smiling stupidly. The Doctor kissed the top of her head.  _You’re so happy._

 _So are you_ , the Doctor pointed out. Every single corner of Rose’s mind was practically  _glowing_  with happiness.

He couldn’t really believe he was the cause of that.

Rose lifted her head to look with him, eyes heavy with sleep but still somehow managing to be bright and happy. God she was so beautiful.

The Doctor couldn’t believe she was his.

“I love you.”

They had said that so much in the last couple of days, between kisses and in gasps of breath and into each others lips and against her neck as he kissed along her throat…

But the words still sent a jolt through the Doctor. He didn’t think he would ever get used to hearing them.

“I love you too. So, so very much.”

Rose pushed herself up to kiss him, all signs of tired gone.

The Doctor wouldn’t lie, he  _really_  appreciated her advanced stamina right then.

~*~

Eventually Rose  _did_  fall asleep, resting comfortably against the Doctor. He was half asleep himself but not yet willing to relinquish consciousness — not when he had the feeling of Rose in his arms to enjoy.

He had never dreamed that this would be a possibility for them. Before everything had happened he had been too concerned about her short lifespan, about watching her wither away in the blink of an eye and after…well. After he had never known if he would ever see her again.

Part of him felt like he owed Davros, as strange as it sounded. If it hadn’t been for him messing with the planets, the walls never would have weakened. He never would have gotten through.

He never would have found his way back to Rose.

And he would be forever grateful to have her.

~*~

They finally ventured out of their room the next day, hand in hand as they walked along, clearly stupidly in love. The planet was indeed beautiful, and Rose eagerly took in all the sights. The sky overhead was tinged pink (the Doctor might have chosen the planet for that exact reason alone), dotted with beautiful white clouds, and the nearby ocean made it basically a postcard.

It was beautiful.

It was also blatantly obvious, to anyone who walked by the duo, that they were a newly wed couple on a honeymoon. The planet saw a lot of that, and and the citizens had become good at recognizing the signs. Hands tightly intertwined, woman grinning the entire time, man looking at her like she was the only thing in the universe…they had definitely just gotten married.

“So what do you wanna do?” The Doctor asked with a grin. “We could go on an island tour, that’s always fun.”

“Does it involve sitting on a vehicle of any kind for any amount of time?”

“Well…yeah.”

“Pass.” This was their honeymoon and Rose wanted to enjoy it. She wanted to look back at this planet and have  _nothing_  but happy memories. No running, no world-ending plots. No mysterious entities trying to kill people. Just her and the Doctor together.

It was selfish, but she had earned that much. They could save the universe next week.

This week was for them.

They ended up spending the day hopping from restaurant to restaurant, trying all the different cuisine the planet had to offer. By the end of the day Rose was completely stuffed and felt a little sick. It was worth it.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” The Doctor, of course, was still rearing to go. He grabbed her hand, tugging her along. She groaned as she followed.

“I thought we were going back to the room,” she whined a bit.

“Soon, I promise. One thing we have to see real quick. Don’t worry, it’s not far.”

Their destination, it turned out, was the beach. They got their and the Doctor plopped down on the sand, pulling Rose into his lap and holding her tight. She curled up against his chest as she said, “So what are we here for?”

“Ssshhh. Just watch.”

His eyes were focused out over the water, and Rose followed his gaze to see that he was watching the sun set. It was quite pretty.

As they watched, the sky slowly became an explosion of colors. Pink and blue and yellow and orange. It was incredible. “Blimey,” Rose whispered, heading resting on the Doctor’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful.”

“Thought you’d like it.” He kissed the top of Rose’s head, proud of himself. He’d chosen a good planet for them.

By the time the sun finished setting Rose was asleep, so the Doctor took her in his arms and carried her back to the room, tucking her and laying down with her.

It was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd say sorry for forgetting to update but... I doubt anyone really noticed.


	5. The End of Time Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (1/4)

“Ha!”

Rose and the Doctor laughed as they burst through the door, narrowly avoiding being hit by an arrow. Rose was giggling too hard to be of any use, so the Doctor went to send them back into orbit on his own.

“So what do I call your other wife?” She teased. “Think she’d mind if I just called her Lizzie?”

The Doctor laughed, going back to her and pressing a kiss to her lips. “I’m filing for divorce. Only need one wife thank you very much.”

“But this explains so much. I met Queen Elizabeth, ya know. With Martha, we met Shakespeare and there were witches…well, it’s a long story. But we met her and she called me the Doctor’s floozy.”

“You met Shakespeare?” Of course that would be the part he latched onto. “And  _witches_? There’s no such thing as—”

“Okay they weren’t  _quite_  witches—”

 _Come_ …

They both froze as the word echoed in their minds. “Did you…?”

The Doctor nodded, lips pursed. He had heard too. Good. Rose thought she was going crazy.

“Should we?”

“Probably.”

The honeymoon was over, then. Well it had been a good five years.

They went to the console together and the TARDIS locked on to the telepathic signal, sending them hurtling through space. They landed with a thud, and Rose slid her fingers through the Doctor’s as they went outside to face whatever was waiting for them.

The scene outside was snowy and beautiful. Rose’s face lit up a bit. “Oh, the Ood Sphere!” Standing a few feet away was Ood Sigma. Rose smiled at the sight of him. “Ood Sigma! It’s good to see you again.”

“You two know each other, I take it?” The Doctor asked, looking between them.

“It’s a long story.” Rose squeezed the Doctor’s hand before refocusing on the Ood. “You called us here, though. What’s going on?”

“You will come with me,” the Ood said simply, turning away. Rose and the Doctor exchanged looks before following.

“So how old are you now, Ood Sigma?” Rose asked curiously as they made their way along. She was stalled, however, at the sight of the Ood city below. “Oh blimey.”

“That’s magnificent,” the Doctor said appreciatively as he admired the sparkling city.

“Absolutely splendid,” Rose agreed. “You’ve achieved all of this in how long?”

“One hundred years,” the Ood said. Rose frowned a bit.

“That’s it?” She would have guessed it had been much longer. “That…can’t be right. All of this is happening way too fast. How were you able to call us? You reached all the way into the vortex…”  
The Doctor wasn’t sure he would ever really get used to Rose’s knowledge. Not a bad thing, of course.

“And the Mind of the Ood is troubled,” Ood Sigma added. Rose’s fingers tightened a bit around the Doctor’s. She didn’t like this very much. She just wanted a little more happiness before everything went to hell. Was that too much to ask?

“Why, what’s happened?” The Doctor asked, realizing Rose wasn’t going to.

“Every night, Doctor and Rose Tyler.” He was a bit surprised the Ood knew his name. “Every night we have bad dreams.”

“About what?”

“You will see.”

Rose pressed herself against the Doctor’s side, and he could feel her shaking a bit.  _What’s wrong, love?_  The Doctor asked gently, thumb smoothing against her knuckles, trying to comfort her. He could feel her unease and he didn’t like it.

_Somethin’ doesn’t feel right here._

_What do you mean? What do you feel?_

_I…I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I know it sounds stupid…_

_Not at all, Rose_. He kissed her temple gently.  _Not at all_.

The arrived at an ice cave and stepped in to see a circle of Ood sitting around a table. The leader-looking one was speaking.

“Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning through the dark and the fire and the blood. Always returning, returning to this world. It is returning, and he is returning, and they are returning, but too late. Too late. Far too late. He has come.”

Yeah…that didn’t sound too ominous. Rose held the Doctor’s hand a bit tighter. She suddenly felt as if her mind had been trapped in vice and was being squeezed.

“Sit with the Elder of the Ood,” Sigma said. “And share the dreaming.”

The Elder. Probably the one who was talking. There was a space next to him that they took, the Doctor sitting closest to the Ood.

“So. Right.” He looked around the group, trying to assert a bit lightness into the whole situation. “Hello.”

“You will join,” all the Ood spoke at once. That was eerie. “You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join.”

The Doctor looked at Rose. “I think they want us to join.”

“Yeah…that’s the vibe I’m gettin’ too.”

Still, they both hesitated before joining hands with the Ood around them.

And an image flashed in their minds. A man. A blonde-haired man, laughing.

Rose gasped sharply as she yanked her hands away from the Doctor and the Ood. The Doctor looked back at her in surprise as she curled up tight on herself, trembling from head to foot.

“Rose?” The Doctor reached for her, wrapping her in his arms. She didn’t seem to notice. “Rose, what’s wrong? Rose?”

That wasn’t working. He slipped into her head instead, and was surprised to find the TARDIS humming angrily in the back of her mind.

_Rose, talk to me. What’s going on? Who is that?_

“He comes to us every night,” the Elder was saying. “I think all the peoples of the universe dream of him now.”

Rose shook her head, pressing close to the Doctor. “He’s dead.” Her voice was rough — she was clearly barely holding on.

“There is more,” the Elder said. “Join us. Events are taking shape. So many years ago, and yet the changing is now.”

Rose and the Doctor exchanged looks before hesitantly joining hands with the Ood again. “There is a man…so scared.”

An image of Wilfred Mott flashed through their minds, and Rose’s eyes flew open again. “Wilf. Is he alright? What about Donna, is she safe?”

“The lines of convergence are being drawn across the Earth.” That was  _not_  an answer, Rose thought bitterly. “Even now, the king is in his Counting house…”

Another image, this one of a black man and his daughter being photographed.

“Who are they?” Rose and the Doctor asked at the same time. Again, no answer.

“And there is another. The most lonely of all, lost and forgotten.”

A woman in a cage. Rose sucked in a breath. This one she recognized.

Lucy Saxon.

“We see so much,” Sigma said, “but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?”

The Doctor looked back at Rose, who was almost as white as the snow outside. “She…She’s…” Rose couldn’t do this. Oh god Rose couldn’t do this.

The Doctor could easily say he had  _never_  seen Rose this panicked. He pulled her back into his arms, holding her tight and trying to calm her down.

“It’s okay, Rose. It’s okay.” He ran a hand through her hair, kissing the top of her head, rocking her gently. “Tell me who they are.”

Rose whimpered a bit, clinging to the Doctor before finally forcing the words. “The man…the first man…he’s the Master.”

The Doctor stiffened, eyes going wide. “What?!” He pulled back to look down at Rose, who was determinedly  _not_  meeting his gaze. Instead she took his hand and the hand of the Ood closest to her, letting them all see the memories. She edited quite a bit — nobody had to see the torture the Master had put her through.

“He took the name Saxon,” she whispered, voice shaking. “And he married a human — the woman. Lucy. He used her and he corrupted her.  She stood by him while he conquered the Earth. I…Martha and I fixed it, so none of it happened, but Lucy Saxon remembered. She shot him. He died. I burned his body. The Master is dead.”

The Doctor’s mind was going a mile a minute.  _Martha and I fixed it_ … he had met Martha during that time. Rose had been held hostage by the Master and he had been  _in this world_ and he hadn’t been able to save her.

“And yet,” the Elder said, “you did not see…”

More images flashed through their minds. A woman picking up the Master’s signet ring out of the ashes.

“Part of him survived,” Rose breathed, eyes wide. Oh god no no no no no…

“Let’s go.” The Doctor jumped up, pulling Rose with him.

“But something more is happening, Doctor and Rose Tyler,” the Elder cautioned them. “The Master is part of a greater design, because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark. The Ood have gained this power to see through time, because time is bleeding. Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil, and these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future, and the present, and the past.”

They froze, turning back to look at the Ood. “What do you mean?” The Doctor asked after a moment.

“This is what we have seen,” the Elder explained. “The darkness heralds only one thing.”

All the Ood spoke at once. “The end of time itself.”

There was no time to wonder at the cryptic message — the couple took off through the snow, hurrying back to the TARDIS. The ship was still humming furiously in the back of their heads, and the Doctor finally understood why — he had seen what the Master had done to their poor ship.

Bastard.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

The Doctor didn’t mean to sound so furious as they burst through the TARDIS doors. He was trying not to be angry — Rose didn’t deserve that — but he didn’t understand. How could Rose hide this from him?

She wasn’t paying attention, however — as the Doctor sent them into the vortex she fished her phone out of her pocket, finding Donna’s name in her contacts and hitting call.

“Come on Donna, come on, come on, come on…”

“ _This is Donna, I’m busy right now so leave a_ —”

Rose hung up and went to Martha’s name next. She picked up after two rings, thankfully. “ _Hullo_?”

“Martha! Thank god.”

“ _Oh hey Rose! What’s up_?”

“Listen, you need to get somewhere safe. Now. You and Mickey and your family.”

There was a beat of silence. When Martha spoke again, all traces of light-heartedness were gone. “ _What’s happening_?”

Rose squeezed her eyes shut. She really didn’t want to have to say this. “The Master is comin’ back, Martha.”

More silence, longer this time. “ _But…But that’s impossible_ ,” Martha finally said, her voice twisted a bit. “ _He died, Lucy shot him, we_ _ **watched**_ _him die! You said you burned his body!_ ”

“I did! It’s a long story, Martha, but please, get somewhere safe, now. I don’t know what’s comin’ but I’m not takin’ a chance with you guys. Do me a favor and try to find Donna too, she’s not answerin’. Please, just get somewhere safe.”

“ _What about you?_ ” Martha asked quietly. But she already knew the answer to that. She had to. Rose looked up, meeting the Doctor’s gaze.

“We’re gonna stop this.”

“ _Rose be_ —”

She hung up before Martha could finish that sentence and called Sarah Jane next. Again, no answer. “Blimey, don’t people pay attention to their bloody phones?!” Rose asked impatiently, shoving her phone away again. The Doctor was running scans, trying to track down the biological signature of another Time Lord.

“Why didn’t you say anything, Rose?” The Doctor asked again, and Rose finally turned to meet his gaze.

“It was in the past. He was dead. I didn’t think there was any reason for you to know.”

“He held you hostage for a  _year_  Rose. I know the Master. He didn’t just leave you be that entire time, did he?”

Rose squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing hard. “No,” she admitted quietly. It didn’t matter. He already knew.

“Rose—”

The console beeped, and the Doctor swiveled around to examine it. “Got somethin’?” Rose asked, shuffling closer.

“Yeah. On Earth. Of course.” He looked down at Rose, who was starting to shake again. “I can handle this, love. If you don’t want to—”

“No, I’ll go,” Rose said as firmly as she could manage. “He’s my responsibility too.”

The Doctor pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said quietly but fiercely. “I promise.”

He landed them and they hurried outside to find themselves standing in a junkyard. “What the hell?” Rose looked around as the Doctor stepped to the edge of the small cliff they had landed on, taking a deep breath.

 _Bang bang bang bang_.

The rhythm sent shock waves through Rose. “Doctor—”

He was already running off. Rose hurried after him, and they ran for a bit before turning around a corner…

“There,” Rose gasped, and they skidded to a halt, looking up at the man standing a few feet away and above them. The Master locked eyes with them for a moment — and ran.

“Come on!”

They took off after him once more, twisting in and out of piles of junk and metal, managing to keep him in sight but never quite catching up. Finally he disappeared, and they rounded a corner to see him standing on a pile of girders. His body seemed to flash, and for a moment his skeleton appeared.

“Oh my god,” Rose breathed. That was…not right. At all.

“You’re burning up your own life force,” the Doctor said, stepping forward. “Please. Let me help you.”

The Master just grinned, a bit maniacally — and he ran again. “ _Damn it_ ,” the Doctor hissed as they gave chase once more…

And ran smack into an old man.

“Oh!”

The Doctor stumbled back and Rose held his hand to steady him as the man they’d nearly barreled over straightened up, rubbing his nose.

“ _Wilf_?”

Wilfred Mott blinked at the two of them, clearly a bit stunned. “What are you two doing here?” He asked after a moment.

“What are  _you_  doin’ here?” Rose returned as the Doctor peeked around Wilf, trying to find the Master. But the other Time Lord had disappeared.

“Well I was just…” Wilf waved a hand at a nearby pile of scrap metal. “Working on a project. But why’re you—”

“Never mind it, Rose, we need to go,” the Doctor said firmly, trying to pull Rose away.

 _No, Doctor, wait_ , Rose insisted, standing her ground.  _The Ood showed us Wilf, remember? He could be in danger._

_The whole **world** is in danger right now Rose, we don’t have time—_

_Don’t have time for_ _ **what**_ _, Doctor?_ The slight edge on Rose’s mental voice gave the Doctor pause, and he finally turned to look at her to see the fire blazing in her eyes. They both turned to look at Wilf, who was clearly bewildered as to why they had both gone silent.

“Well…why don’t you let me treat you both to dinner, then?”

* * * * *

They gave in and followed Wilf to his car. The Doctor didn’t like it — the Master was still running around and he didn’t want to waste time like this. But Rose was concerned for Wilf, and she was probably right to be — the Ood had shown them the old man, after all. There had to be a reason for that.

“Here we are then,” Wilf said as they settled down at the small cafe. “Get whatever you want. Look at you both, far too skinny. It’s not natural.”

They looked at the menu, but the Doctor wasn’t hungry and Rose honestly felt a little sick. “Where’s Donna?” Rose asked suddenly. “I tried callin’ her earlier, she didn’t pick up.”

“Oh, she and Shaun went away for Christmas — they just got engaged, you know.” Actually Rose hadn’t known that. She was pretty behind on the news apparently. “She was gonna give you a call after the holidays.”

 _Great. That’s brilliant. By then it’ll be too late_.

“What about you, Wilf?” The Doctor asked, fishing a bit. “How’ve you been?”

“Oh I’m alright.” His face told a different story, though. “Just…I keep seeing things. Like dreams, but they’re not — it happens when I’m awake too. This face. This man.”

 _The Master_. Rose didn’t know how she knew that, but she did. That was the only explanation.

_Yeah. But why him?_

“Who are you?” The Doctor asked. The question clearly bewildered Wilf.

“I’m Wilfred Mott.” He looked a little concerned for the the Doctor’s sanity. Rose tilted her head, examining the old man for a long moment.

“There’s somethin’ about your family. I kept runnin’ into Donna, things kept bringin’ us together. And now you just happen to find us in a junkyard? What are the odds?”

“Just lucky, I guess,” Wilf said with a shrug. Rose shook her head.

“No, that’s not it. It’s like somethin’ is connectin’ us.”

Wilf raised an eyebrow. “What’s so important about me?”

“That’s the question of the hour, isn’t it?”

A waitress came over to take their orders. Rose and the Doctor both decided not to get anything, ordering just tea. Wilf made a face at them as he got a sandwich.

“You’re supposed to be eating.”

“We’re not really hungry, Wilf. Thank you though.” Rose fiddled with her hands for a moment before asking, “What about Shaun? He’s a good guy, right? Donna tries to keep him away from us, she’s afraid we’ll scare him off.”

“Oh I think he’d be chuffed to meet the two of you,” Wilf chuckled. “He’s a bit of a dreamer, aliens and other worlds would probably fascinate him. He’s a good bloke, though. Looks at Donna like she puts the stars in the sky.”

“Good.” She deserved that. She deserved someone who would love her unconditionally. Especially after the disaster of her last “wedding.” “Hang on, she’s not gonna be Noble-Temple, is she? Sounds like a tourist spot.”

“No, it’s Temple-Noble,” Wilf assured her. “Mind you, he’s on minimum wage, she’s earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat.”

 _Think I know what to get her for her wedding_ , Rose said thoughtfully. The Doctor nodded.

 _We’ll work on that later_. “Right then, Wilf.” The Doctor stood up, pulling Rose with him. “Sorry to run but we’ve really got something we need to take care of.”

“Oh, right.” Wilf looked faintly disappointed. “Well then. Merry Christmas.”

It was only then they noticed the Christmas decorations hanging all around them. Oh right. Christmas.

“Merry Christmas, Wilf.”


	6. The End of Time Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (2/4)

By the time they got back to the junkyard, night had nearly fallen. “Can you sense him?” Rose asked quietly, holding the Doctor’s hand tight. Her heart was pounding a painful rhythm against her ribs. She knew they had to find the Master…

But  _god_  she didn’t want to.

“Yeah.” The Doctor squeezed her hand, trying to give her as much strength as possible in that one gesture. “Don’t worry, Rose. I’m not going to let him hurt you. I won’t. I  _promise_.”

Rose nodded stiffly. “I trust you. Come on. Let’s find him and put an end to this.”

The Doctor nodded, pulling her forward.

They approached an abandoned warehouse. And there he was, like he was waiting for them. A shiver ran through Rose. The Doctor looked down at her to see that she was shaking hard.

 _Stay here, Rose_ , he ordered gently, dropping her hand. It was a sign of how absolutely terrified she was that she didn’t protest as the Doctor stepped forward alone.

“Doctor.” Even the sound of the Master’s voice was enough to send Rose into a near panic. “How nice of you to join us.”

And they watched, stunned, as the Master held a hand out, firing a bolt of energy. The Doctor ducked out of the way, but Rose wasn’t nearly as quick — it hit her square on, sending her flying back.

“Rose!”

The momentary distraction was all the Master needed to hit the Doctor as well. Unlike Rose, the blast wasn’t quick — the energy wrapped around the Doctor, zapping him continuously as the Master moved closer.

“Doctor!” Rose cried, trying to push herself up to help but, pain burned through her chest from where the Master had struck her. She could only watch, paralyzed, as the Master finally stopped the flow of energy and the Doctor pitched forward. The Master caught him before he hit the ground, holding him for a moment before letting him go. “ _Doctor_!”

Rose was completely ignored, of course. “I had estates,” the Master said, standing over the Doctor and looking quite pleased. “Do you remember my father’s land back home? Pastures of red grass, stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition. We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky. Look at us now.”

“All that eloquence,” the Doctor breathed, voice twisted with pain. “But how many people have you killed?”

 _Doctor what’s going on?_ Something felt horribly off here.  _Are you okay?_

 _Yeah. I don’t know yet. Just stay down and don’t let him see you._ He was clearly dangerous. The Doctor wanted to keep her off the Master’s radar.

“I am so hungry,” the Master groaned. The Doctor made a face.

“Your resurrection went wrong. That energy. Your body’s ripped open. Now you’re killing yourself.”

He might as well have been talking to a brick wall. “That human Christmas out there. They eat so much. All that roasting meat, cakes and red wine. Hot, fat, blood, food. Pots, plates of meat, and flesh, and grease, and juice, and baking, burnt, sticky hot skin. Hot. It’s so hot.”

“Stop it,” the Doctor said. He could feel Rose’s disgust in the back of his head.

 _What the hell is wrong with him_?

“Sliced. Sliced. Sliced.”

“Stop it!”  _I don’t know. This is mad even for him_.

 _Tell me about it_.

“It’s mine,” the Master insisted. “It’s mine. It’s mine to eat and eat and eat.”

“Stop it,” the Doctor said firmly. “What if I ask you for help? There’s more at work tonight than the three of us.”

As he spoke Rose pushed herself, hand resting against her injured chest, breathing heavily.

“Oh yeah?” The Master asked, mocking just slightly.

“I’ve been told something is returning.”

The Master spread his arms out, grinning. “And here I am.”

“No, something more,” the Doctor tried to say.

“But it hurts.”

_Is he even listening?_

_I don’t know but I have to try. Are you okay?_

_I’ll live. You?_

_Same_.

“I was told the end of time—”

“It hurts,” the Master said again. “Doctor, the noise. The noise in my head, Doctor. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Stronger than ever before. Can’t you hear it?”

_What noise?_

_Drums…he said before he could hear a drum beat. The drums of war_.

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor breathed. He didn’t hear anything.

“Listen,” the Master insisted. “Listen, listen, listen. Every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts, there it is, calling to me. Please listen.”

“I can’t hear it,” the Doctor told him. I’m sorry.”

“Listen!”

The Master pressed his fingers against the Doctor’s temples, and the Doctor started a bit as the sound filled his head; he yanked away, wide-eyed.

 _What the hell was_ _ **that**_ _?_ Rose asked, mental voice strained. She’d heard it too.

 _Not what he thinks it is_.

“What?” The Master demanded, seeing the look on the Doctor’s face.

“But…”

“What?!”

“I heard it,” the Doctor said quietly. “But there’s no noise. There never has been. It’s just your insanity. What is it? What’s inside your head?”

They watched as the Master took a step back. “It’s real,” he insisted. “It’s real. It’s real!”

And he took off into the air — literally. “What the  _hell_  is goin’ on?” Rose gasped as she staggered to the Doctor, helping him up as well.

“I don’t know,” the Doctor admitted, hugging her quickly. “We need to try and track him down though. Come on.”

And they ran again. Rose could feel the Doctor’s mind working a mile a minute, trying desperately work all of this out. It didn’t help that he had barely had time to even process that another Time Lord was still alive — much less the Time Lord who had made his life hell for so long.

Rose wish she’d just told him sooner. Her own fears had possibly doomed them all.

She couldn’t have hated herself more if she tried.

They found the Master waiting for them once more. “All these years,” he said as they approached. “You thought I was mad. Both of you did. I remember your taunts, Ms. Tyler. Mad as a fruitcake, isn’t that what you were thinking?” Well…he wasn’t wrong. “But something is calling me. What is it? What is it? What is it?”

Almost on cue a bright spotlight came down on the Master, and another came down on the Doctor and Rose. They watched, stunned, as a pair of men in dark uniforms came down from a helicopter hovering overhead, grabbing the Doctor and injecting him with something, knocking him out.

“Don’t!” The Doctor yelled, hurrying forward, but gunshots rang out as they were fired at, forcing them back. The Master was hoisted up into the helicopter, and the Doctor tried once again to run forward.

“Let him go—!”

Rose watched, horrified, as the Doctor went down. “ _ **No**_!”

She completely forgot about the Master, the men, the helicopters, everything as she ran to her husband, rolling him over. “Doctor, Doctor, wake up,” she begged, shaking him. “Wake up, please wake up, wake up wake up  _wake up_ …”

It took a moment but finally the Doctor stirred, groaning. “Ow…”

“Doctor!”

Rose threw her arms around him, holding him tight. He hugged her back with as much strength as he could muster. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m alright,” he assured her, and after a moment she helped him up. “Blimey, we’re really getting it today aren’t we?” Rose had to smile a bit at that. “Didn’t see what direction they went in, did you?”

“No. I’m sorry. I was a bit preoccupied.”

The Doctor hugged her quick before kissing her. “It’s alright. I have an idea. Come on.”

* * * * *

“You’ve been a right misery since you woke up,” Sylvia commented as she walked in with a tray of egg nog, watching Wilf unwrap one of his presents. “Come on, just because your granddaughter decided to abandon us for Christmas doesn’t mean we can’t still have a good day. What’s that, then?”

“A book.” He held it up for Sylvia to see. It was called Fighting the Future by Joshua Naismith.

“Well that’s pleasant,” Sylvia murmured as she grabbed a present for herself, unwrapping it. It was a sweater. “Oh now that’s lovely. Look at that. Absolutely. Beautiful. I hope she kept the receipt. Come on then, put on a smile. I bet there’s a new pair of reindeer antlers somewhere in this pile for you.”

Wilf smiled a bit, sipping his egg nog and watching his daughter pick up a card. “Oh, now look at that. That’s from Charlie Morton.” She opened it and laughed. “Look at this, isn’t that rude?”

Wilf leaned over to examine the card, giving Sylvia the laugh she was looking for. “Alright, quiet down now.” He turned on the TV, finding the right channel. “It’s the Queen’s Speech, show respect.”

“Oh alright,” Sylvia huffed, focusing on the TV as the queen came on screen.

“Ah, there she is! It’s our sovereign.” Wilf saluted — and then things went a bit funny. The broadcast seemed to slow down, and then the screen changed to a women in white.

“…Eh?”

“ _Events are moving, Wilfred_ ,” the woman said, and Wilf blinked in surprise.

“Eh?”

“ _Faster than we thought_.”

“Oi, can you see that?” Wilf asked, looking over at Sylvia.

“Frankly, I’d tell Her Majesty it’s time for trouser suits,” his daughter commented.

“No, no, no, no. That’s not the—”

“ _Only you can see_ ,” the woman interrupted Wilf’s protests. “ _Only you stand at the heart of coincidence._ ”

“Why, what have I done?” Wilf demanded. This was just too odd. First Rose and the Doctor at the junkyard and now this? What was going on?

“ _You’re an old soldier sir. Only you were too late. The war was won and passed you by_.”

“I did my duty,” Wilf informed the woman, a bit coldly.

“ _You never killed a man_.”

“No, I didn’t,” Wilf agreed. “No, I did not, no, but don’t say that like it’s shameful.”

“ _The time will come when you must take arms_.”

“Who are you?” Wilf demanded, heart dropping a bit.

“ _Tell the Doctor and Rose Tyler nothing of this. The Doctor’s life could still be saved, so long as you tell them nothing_.”

And with that the screen switched to the screen. Wilf was barely paying attention now, however. He stood up slowly, going to his room, fishing an old suitcase out from under his bed. He opened and picked up the old service revolver, unwrapping it from its cloth and staring at it for a long moment until a noise at the window caught his attention. He went over to see the TARDIS parked across the street, Rose leaning against it as the Doctor walked back to her.

Oh this wasn’t good.

“What’s going on?” Wilf asked as he made his way outside.

“We need your help, Wilf,” Rose said gently. “We’re trying to track someone, a Time Lord, but we lost him.”

“He’s still on Earth,” the Doctor added. “I can smell him, but he’s too far away. You’re the only connection we can think of. You’re involved, even if we can’t work out how. Tell me, have you seen anything…I don’t know. Anything strange, anything odd?”

Wilf hesitated for a long moment. “Well, there was a…”

“What?” The Doctor demanded as Wilf’s voice drifted off. Rose rested a hand on her husband’s shoulder.

“What is it, Wilf?” She asked a bit more gently. “Tell us.”

But he shook his head. “No, it’s nothing.”

 _Well this is no help_.

_Doctor give him a break. You’re asking for quite a bit here, he doesn’t even know what we’re looking for. **We**  don’t even know what we’re looking for._

“Anythin’ at all, Wilf,” Rose said again. “Somethin’ out of the blue, out of place.”

“Well…there was a book. Donna got me a book for Christmas, it’s a bit…odd. Not the kind of thing she would usually get me.”

“That works. Show us.”

Wilf hurried back inside, coming out a moment later with the book and handing it over. Rose flipped through it, pausing at the author bio on the back.

“Doctor—”

“That’s him,” the Doctor finished Rose’s thought, examining the picture of the author. “That’s the man the Ood showed us.”

“The what?” Wilf asked, bewildered.

“The Ood.”

“What’s the Ood?”

“Never mind, no time to explain.” The Doctor shook his head. “But it’s all part of the convergence. Something must have touched Donna’s subconscious, drove her to buy this. She’s still fighting even if she doesn’t realize it.”

“Dad, what are you up to?” Sylvia called as she made her way outside, freezing at the sight of Rose and the Doctor. “You two! Come to ruin Christmas too, have you?”

“Not at all,” Rose said. “Wilf, mind if we keep this? We’ll bring it back later, promise.”

“No, I’m coming with you,” Wilf insisted, and Sylvia’s mouth dropped.

“The hell you are! Dad don’t you dare!”

“You’re not coming,” the Doctor informed the old man.

“You’re not leaving me with her,” Wilf replied, jerking a thumb at Sylvia.

“ _Dad_!”

Rose and the Doctor exchanged a look. “Fair enough, then.”

“Just you listen to me,” Sylvia raged as they disappeared inside. “I forbid it. Get out of—!”

The door closed before she could finish her sentence. “Rose, get us out of here,” the Doctor said, taking the book. “I’ll start working on tracking down this Naismith bloke.”

They ran up to the console, Rose working to get them into the vortex while the Doctor pecked away at the computer. She looked over at Wilf to see him looking around. “Ah. Right. Bigger on the inside. What do you think?”

“I thought it’d be a bit cleaner,” Wilf replied.

“Oi!” Rose and the Doctor griped at the same time, insulted.

“But I don’t understand,” Wilf continued, oblivious to their clear displeasure. “If this is a time machine, then why can’t you just pop back to yesterday and catch whoever you’re chasing?”

“It doesn’t work that way,” the Doctor said. “We can’t go back on our own time line.”

“We have to stay relative to the Master within the casual nexus,” Rose added. “Understand?”

“Not a word,” Wilf said. They had to smile a bit at that.

“Welcome aboard.”

“Thank you.”

The Doctor tracked Naismith down and Rose landed them. Wilf was the first one out, looking around in shock.

“We’ve moved. We’ve really moved!”

“You should stay here,” the Doctor said as he and Rose stepped out behind him. Wilf gave him a look.

“Not bloody likely.”

Of course it wasn’t. “Right. Hold on.” The Doctor turned back to the TARDIS, then looked at Rose. “This is going to hurt, love. I’m sorry.”

She already wasn’t looking forward to it. “Just do it.”

The Doctor nodded. “Wilf, watch her?”

Needless to say, Wilf was bewildered as he watched the Doctor point a key at the TARDIS, and it disappeared. The old man was even more bewildered when Rose groaned and staggered.

“Whoa, sweetheart!” He grabbed her quickly before she fell over. “What’s wrong?”

“Just a second out of sync,” the Doctor murmured as he stepped over, pulling Rose into his arms. “Don’t want the Master finding the TARDIS. That’s the last thing we need. I’m sorry, Rose.”

“S’alright,” she murmured, pressing her forehead into his shoulder for a moment before pushing herself upright. “S’not so bad.”

The tight pull of her expression, and pinpoints of her pupils said otherwise. But the Doctor wasn’t about to argue.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

They made their way across the grounds, ducking to when they saw a patrol coming. “That book said he’s a billionaire,” Wilf said quietly. “He’s got his own private army.”

The Doctor made a face, finding a small door in an archway. “Down here.”

They slipped down and made their way along the dimly lit hall. The Doctor took Rose’s hand as they walked, squeezing tight.

_Alright?_

_Yeah_. It didn’t  _hurt_  as much anymore — it felt like her head was being squeezed but it didn’t necessarily  _hurt_. So that was something she supposed.

 _I had to do it_.

 _Trust me, I spent an entire year trying to deal with what the Master did to the TARDIS. I’d rather put up with this pain any day_.

They found a room — a lab from the looks of it as they peeked in — with a (seemingly) human woman sitting at a computer and a strange looking portal-type thing in the corner.

“Nice gate,” the Doctor  said as he stepped in, and the woman whirled to look.

“Hello,” Wilf said. “Sorry.”

“Don’t try calling security,” the Doctor added. “Or I’ll tell them you’re wearing a Shimmer. Because I reckon anyone wearing a Shimmer doesn’t want the Shimmer to be noticed, or they wouldn’t need a Shimmer in the first place.”

“I’m sorry?” The woman, admittedly, was good at playing stupid. “What’s a Shimmer?”

Rose fished her sonic screwdriver out of her pocket, pointing it at the woman. “Shimmer,” the Doctor said as the hologram faded away, revealing the green, cactus-like woman underneath.

“Oh, my Lord,” Wilf breathed. “She’s a cactus.”

“ _Ms. Addams?_ ” A voice came over the intercom. “ _Ms Addams?_ ”

“Don’t even think about answering,” Rose said firmly as the Doctor went to examine the gate. Wilf stood off to the side with Rose taking up an almost guarding stance in front of him, watching the cactus woman.

“He’s got it working,” the Doctor murmured as he worked, “but what is it? What’s working?”

“What are you doing here?”

The woman from the intercom had walked into the room, looking between them all. Rose just pointed her sonic screwdriver at the woman, and the Shimmer faded away from her as well.

“Right.” The Doctor straightened up, turning to look at the new arrival. “Now, tell me quick, what’s going on? Now, tell me quickly, what’s going on? The Master, Harold Saxon, Skeletor, whatever you’re calling him, what’s he doing up there?”

“And who are you?” Rose added, scowling as she looked between the two green women.

“It’s operational,” the new one said as she examined the gate. “He’s done good work. It’s operational. We’re Vinvocci. And so is the Gate. We’re a salvage team. We picked up the signal when the humans reactivated it. And as soon as it’s working, we can transport it to the ship.”

“But what does it do?” The Doctor asked cautiously. Something was really wrong here.

“Well, it mends. It’s as simple as that. It’s a medical device to repair the body. It makes people better.”

“No, there’s got to be more,” the Doctor disagreed. “Every single warning says the Master’s going to do something colossal.”

“So that thing’s like a sickbed, yes?” Wilf asked curiously.

“More or less,” Addams said.

“Well, pardon me for asking, but why is it so big?”

The Doctor shot Wilf an impressed look. “Oh, good question. Why’s it so big?”

“It doesn’t just mend one person at a time,” Addams explained.

“That would be ridiculous,” the other Vinvocci added.

“It mends whole planets.”

The Doctor’s mouth dropped as Rose’s eyes went wide. “It does what?”

“It transmits the medical template across the entire population.”

_Oh god…_

_Doctor, if the Master has been working on this…_

_I know_.

They whirled around in unison, taking off down the hall.

 _What do you think he’s planning?_ Rose asked as they ran.

 _I don’t know. But I’m not waiting to find out either_.

“Turn the Gate off!” The Doctor yelled as they ran through the door of the Gate Room. “Right now!”

“At arms!” A voice called, and suddenly they had guns pointed at the from every direction.

“No, no, no, no, no,” the Doctor said frantically. “Whatever you do, just don’t let him near that device.”

“Oh, like that was ever going to happen,” the Master called, and they whirled around just in time to see throw off his straight jacket and use pillars of energy to propel himself over everyone’s heads and leap into the gate.

“Homeless, was I?” He daunted. “Destitute and dying. Well, look at me now!”

“Deactivate it,” Rose snapped. “All of you, turn the whole thing off!”

The Master just laughed. “He’s inside my head,” Naismith gasped suddenly. Rose whipped around to glare at the Master.

“Get out of there!”

She ran at him, only to be blasted back by a shot of energy. “Rose!”

“Doctor!” Wilf called before the Doctor could go to make sure Rose was okay. “Doctor, there’s, there’s this face!”

 _I’m alright_ , Rose groaned in his head.  _Help Wilf_.

It still took a lot for the Doctor actually focus on Wilf. “What is it? What can you see?”

“Well, it’s him,” Wilf stuttered. “I can see him.”

The Doctor ran to the computer, trying desperately to shut the thing down. “I can’t turn it off!”

“That’s because I locked it, idiot,” the Master sneered. The Doctor whipped around to see a pair of glass cubicles.

“Wilfred! Get inside! Get him out!”

Wilf ran to one of the cubicles, pulling out the technician inside while the Doctor did the same on the other side and set to work with the computer. “Just need to filter the levels…”

“Oh, I can see again!” Wilf gasped. “He’s gone.”

“Radiation shielding. Now press the button. Let me out.”

“You what?” Wilf asked, bewildered.

“I can’t get out until you press the button. That button there.” He pointed, and Wilf pressed the button. The Doctor’s door popped out and he hurried out. “Fifty seconds and counting,” the Master reported.

“To what?” The Doctor demanded as he went to help Rose.

“Oh, you’re going to love this.”

Wilf started as his phone rang, and he reached into his pocket, finding first the revolver and then his phone. “Hello? Donna?”

“ _Where are you?_ ” Donna asked, panicked. “ _It’s Shaun. Something’s wrong with him_.”

Just him? “But wait a minute. I mean, what about you? Can’t you see anything?”

“ _Just Shaun, that’s bad enough. Gramps, Mum called, she said you ran off with Rose and the Doctor. What’s going on, are they there?_ ”

“What is it?” The Doctor demanded as he helped Rose sit up. “Hypnotism? Mind control? You’re grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?”

“Oh, that’s way too easy,” the Master scoffed. “No, no, no. They’re not going to think like me. They’re going to become me. And, zero!”

A blast of energy blew out from the gate, and Rose and the Doctor ducked their heads as it washed over them. The Doctor raise his gaze to examine the people around them. Everyone’s faces, except for Wilf’s, was blurred.

“What is it?” Wilf called.

“ _Gramps! Something’s happened to Shaun, his face as changed! What’s going on?!_ ”

Wilf’s stomach dropped. “Donna, get away from him. I don’t know what’s going on, but get away from him now. I’ll call you back soon.” He hung up before she could answer, glaring at the Master. “What is it?” He demanded. “What have you done, you monster?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the Master said. “Are you talking to me?”

“Or to me?” Another one piped up.

“Or to me?”

“Or to me?”

“Or to us?”

Rose and the Doctor picked themselves up, looking around at the group of Masters around them.

 _Oh my god_ , Rose whispered.

 _Yeah_ …

“The human race was always your favorite, Doctor,” the Master taunted. “But now, there is no human race. There is only — the Master race!”


	7. The End of Time Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (3/4)

The Doctor wiggled against the restraints, making muffled noises around his gag. Wilf had been tied to a chair, Rose handcuffed to an exposed pipe. Deja vu.

“Now then,” the Master announced. “I’ve got a planet to run. Is everybody ready?”

There was another Master on screen, reporting from the gate room. “ _Forty nine thousand three hundred and thirty eight versions of us awaiting orders_.”

“ _This is Washington,_ ” another one reported. “ _As President of the United States, I can transfer all the United Nations protocols to you immediately, putting you in charge of all the Earth’s defenses._ ”

“ _UNIT HQ, Geneva reporting. All under your command, sir._ ”

_Are you okay, Rose?_ The Doctor asked quietly. He could feel the panic brimming on the edge of her consciousness — the sight of so many Masters setting her horribly on edge.

_I’ll live. Got a plan?_

_Working on it_.

“ _And this is the Central Military Commission here in Beijing, sir, with over two point five million soldiers, sir. Present arms!"_

“Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship,” the Master said happily as he strolled to stand beside the Doctor. “Nothing to say, Doctor?” The Doctor made a muffled noise. “What’s that? Pardon? Sorry?”

“Get away from him!” Rose snarled. The Master looked over at her, smirking. In the blink of an eye he was standing in front of her, slapping her hard across the face. The Doctor made a loud, angry noise.

“Now, now, Ms. Tyler. You seem to have forgotten we spent an entire blissful year together. I know exactly how to make you break.”

“You leave them both alone,” Wilf snapped, and the Master turned on him.

“Oh, your dad’s still kicking up a fuss.”

“Yeah? Well I’d be proud if I was,” Wilf informed him coldly. The Master rolled his eyes.

“Hush now. Listen to your Master.”

He started to step away — only to freeze when the sound of a ringing phone echoed through the room.

“But that’s a mobile.”

“Yeah, it’s mine,” Wilf said without thinking. “Let me turn it off.”

The Master shook his head. “No, no, no, no, no. I don’t think you understand. Everybody on this planet is me. And I’m not phoning you, so who the hell is that?”

“It’s nobody,” Wilf insisted. “I tell you, it’s nothing. It’s probably one of them ring-back calls.”

The Master went fishing through Wilf’s pockets, pulling out a revolver. “Oooh, and look at this. Good man!”

He tossed it aside, finding Wilf’s mobile. “Donna.” Rose’s, Wilf’s, and the Doctor’s stomachs all dropped. “Who’s Donna?”

“She’s no one. Just leave it.”

Of course, the Master answered anyways, putting it on speaker. “ _Gramps? Gramps are you there? Are you with Rose and the Doctor? Put one of them on, I’ve got a piece of my mind to give them for dragging you into danger. What the hell is going on? What happened? Shaun morphed into this ugly bloke_ —”

“Oh now that’s just rude,” the Master muttered, offended, as Rose snorted.

“ _Are you there? Gramps_?”

“Find her,” the Master said to one of the screens. “Trace the call.”

“ _Gramps? Can you hear me?_ ” Donna sounded confused and concerned now. “ _Gramps? Rose? Doctor?_ ”

“Donna, get out!” Wilf finally yelled. “Just get out of there! I’m telling, you run!”

“ _Gramps? What’s going on?!_ ”

“ _She’s on Beau Street, Bath_ ,” the Master on screen reported. “ _Open the phone lines. Everyone on Beau Street. Red alert_.”

“ _Gramps, talk to me!_ ”

“Run, sweetheart,” Wilf said, defeated. “That’s all. Run for your life!”

“Ditch the phone and find somewhere to hide,” Rose called. “Get rid of the phone, get off the streets, and stay out of sight. Do it!”

There was a brief pause. “ _Take care of my grandfather, Rose._ ”

“I will. I promise I will. You take care of yourself. Go!”

There was a crunch and a static-y noise, presumably as Donna threw her phone away. “She won’t get away for long.” The Master seemed unconcerned as he tossed Wilf’s phone over his shoulder. No sooner had he turned away again, however, did another phone go off. Rose’s.

“Another one!”

He fished Rose’s phone out of her pocket, smirking when he saw the name on the caller ID. He hit answer. “Martha Jones, I do presume?”

There was a moment of silence. “ _What the hell did you do you son of a bitch?”_  Martha growled, and the Master laughed.

“Feisty!”

“Martha don’t,” Rose warned. “Just get rid of your phone and stay out of sight.”

“ _Rose_ —”

“Do it!”

The call ended. “She won’t get away long either,” the Master informed Rose silkily.

“Martha Jones hid from you for an entire year. I’m not too worried.”

The Master turned to look at the Doctor, who was  _smiling_. After a moment the Time Lord walked over to his old friend, pulling the gag away.

“Ah, that’s better,” the Doctor said, licking his lips. “Hello. But really, did you think I would leave anyone without a defense mechanism? Even if I didn’t travel with Martha and Donna, they’re still protected by the TARDIS.”

That meant Mickey was safe too, then. And Sarah Jane. Rose let out a small sigh of relief.

“Speaking of which,” the Master said silkily. “Where  _is_  your TARDIS?”

The Doctor just gave him a look. “You could be so wonderful.”

“Where is it?” The Master demanded again. The Doctor shook his head.

“You’re a genius. You’re stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honor. Because you don’t need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That’s ownership enough.”

_Doctor what the hell_ —

_Just give me chance, Rose._

_What are you doing?!_

_Improvising._

“Would it stop, then?” The Master wondered. “The noise in my head?”

“I can help,” the Doctor promised.

“I don’t know what I’d be without the noise.”

“I wonder what I’d be,” the Doctor said thoughtfully. “Without you.”

“Yeah.”

_Again — Doctor what the hell?_

_I think I’m getting through to him. Just, just—_

“What does he mean?” Wilf asked suddenly. “What noise?”

The Master didn’t turn away from the Doctor as he spoke. “It began on Gallifrey, as children. Not that you’d call it childhood. More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation, to stare into the Untempered Schism.”

“What does that mean?” Rose asked despite herself. She had always wondered, but the Master had never been very forthright when he’d been holding her captive.

“It’s a gap in the fabric of reality,” the Doctor explained. “You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts.”

“They took me there in the dark,” the Master  continued, his voice distance. “I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never ending drums.”

He tapped his fingers against the edge of the trolly the Doctor was strapped to, tapping out the rhythm. “Listen to it. Listen.”

“Then let’s find it,” the Doctor said. He was close. He could tell. “Let us help you find it.”

“Except…” The Master’s expression shifted as something occurred to him. “Oh. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes. Oh, that’s good.”

“What?” The Doctor demanded, confused. He’d been so close. What had changed? “What is it?”

“The noise exists within my head, and now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine. Oh. Oh, yes.”

The Master’s body flashed, his skeleton showing for just a moment. “The Gate wasn’t enough,” the Doctor said quietly. “You’re still dying.”

“This body was born out of death,” the crazed Time Lord explained. “All it can do is die. But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said the end of time.”

“I said something is returning,” the Doctor reminded him. “I was shown a prophecy. That’s why I need your help.”

“What if I’m part of it?” The Master ventured.  “Don’t you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away. From the end of time itself. And now it’s been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source. Oh, Doctor. That’s what your prophecy was. Me!”

He slapped the Doctor across the face, ignoring Rose’s angry protest. “Where’s the TARDIS?” He demanded.

“No,” the Doctor said desperately. “Just stop. Just think.”

The Master whirled to a nearby guard, who was wearing a helmet. “Kill him.”

The guard went to Wilf.

“I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead.”

“Don’t tell him,” Wilf said, and Rose couldn’t help but smile. So brave. No questioning where Donna had  gotten it from.

“I’ll kill him right now!” The Master snarled. “Or is that not incentive enough? Perhaps once he’s dead I can demonstrate for you what I spent a year doing to your precious  _Rose_.” Rose stiffened at that, the very thought of having to go through even one moment of that again enough to nearly make her throw up.

_Relax, Rose_ , the Doctor comforted her gently.  _He’s the only one who’s going to get hurt here_.

“Actually,” the Doctor said out loud, “the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you’re still bone dead stupid.”

The Master raised an eyebrow. “Take aim,” he ordered.

“You’ve got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can’t see the obvious, can you?”

The brought the Master up short. “Like what?”

“That guard is one inch too tall.”

The Master didn’t even have time to turn before the guard him with butt of the gun. The Master went down, and the guard pulled off the helmet. “Oh my god,” Rossiter breathed. “I hit him. I’ve never hit anyone in my life.”

Addams ran in. “Well, come on,” she said, untying Wilf. “We need to get out of here fast.”

Rose fished out her sonic screwdriver, freeing herself from the handcuffs at last and stumbling up, running to the Doctor. She buzzed the straps quickly and he stumbled off the trolley, gathering her in his arms and hugging her tight.

“God bless the cactuses!” Wilf said as he jumped up.

“That’s cacti,” the Doctor corrected.

“That’s racist!”

“Come on!” Addams ordered. “We’ve got to get out, now! You two can do… _this_ …” She waved a hand at the Doctor and Rose, who were still holding tightly to one another, “later. Let’s go!”

They ran out.

“Which way?” Rossiter called as they ran.

“This way,” Addams responded, turning down a hall.

“No, no, no, no, no,” the Doctor argued. “The other way, I’ve got my TARDIS.”

Addams grabbed his arm, dragging him along — and Rose by proxy, as they were holding hands. “I know what I’m doing,” the green woman informed him.

“No, no, no, just listen to me!” The Doctor insisted. But they ran down the stairs, into the basement.

“Hang on, just stop! Stop and listen to me!”

They ran into a room — and were followed only a few moments later by the Master and his guards. “Gotcha,” the Time Lord said triumphantly.

“You think so?” Addams asked. And she pressed her wristwatch.

“No!” The Doctor cried. “No, no, no, don’t!”

But it was too late. They disappeared, landing a moment later in another room. “What did you do?!” The Doctor asked, whirling to the green women.

“Don’t say thanks, will you.” Addams rolled her eyes.

“He’s not going to let us go!” The Doctor snapped, sonicking the teleport controls so they couldn’t be followed that way.

Wilf moved to look out a nearby window. “Oh my goodness me,” he breathed. “We’re in space.”

“Where’s your flight deck?”

“But we’re safe,” Addams insisted. “We’re a hundred thousand miles above the Earth.”

“And he’s got every single missile on the planet ready to fire,” the Doctor reminded her.

“…Good point.”

Addams, Rossiter, and the Doctor ran out. Rose started to follow, only to stop when she saw Wilf still standing at the window.

“Come on,” she said gently, going back to lead him away.

“But we’re in space!”

“Yup.”

They found the flight deck, where the Doctor, Rossiter, and Addams were working furiously. “We’ve got to close it down!”

“No chance, mate,” Rossiter informed him. “We’re going home.”

“We’re just a salvage team,” Addams added. “Local politics has got nothing to do with us. Not unless there’s a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better.”

“We’re not leaving,” the Doctor informed them. And before they could stop him he sonicked the controls, and the entire ship went dark.

_Doctor!_

_What else was I supposed to do? We can’t leave, Rose, we need to find a way back to Earth._

_You didn’t have to strand them here in the process_.

Addams and Rossiter were working furiously, trying desperately to bring something back online. But it was no use.

“No sign of any missiles,” Addams reported. “No sign of anything. You’ve wrecked the place!”

“The engines are burnt out,” Rossiter added. “All we’ve got is auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can’t move. We’re stuck in orbit.”

“Thanks to you, you idiot!” And with that Addams stormed out. Rose moved to the Doctor’s side, taking his hand and holding on tight. He pulled her close, kissing the top of her head.

_I’m sorry._

_It’s not your fault_.

“You two, though, you must have a plan?” Wilf asked, looking between them. “You always have a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of flim-flam sort of the thing? Eh?” They exchanged looks but didn’t answer. Wilf’s face fell a bit. “Oh, blimey.”

They stood in silence for a long moment. “Come on,” the Doctor said finally. “Let’s go to the teleport room.”

“Do you think they would mind if I explored a bit?” Wilf asked.

“S’pose not. Just don’t press any buttons.” If he got sucked out of the ship Donna might be mad.

Wilf disappeared, and Rose and the Doctor headed to the teleport room.

“What’re you gonna do?” Rose asked after a moment.

“Fix the heating. It’s freezing in here.”

They got to the room. Rose settled down in the corner while the Doctor set to work. “How are you?” The Doctor asked. “Really?”

Rose sighed, curling up a bit tighter. The Doctor abandoned his work and went to sit with her, pulling her into his arms. “Talk to me, Rose,” he coaxed gently. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“He tortured me for an entire year.” Her voice cracked a bit. “Every kind of torture possible. Physical, mental, emotional…”

The Doctor’s mouth felt a bit dry as he forced himself to ask, “Did he…I mean…he didn’t…”

It took Rose a moment to figure out what the Doctor was asking. “He didn’t rape me, no,” she said quietly, trying to put his mind at ease. “Don’t think it ever even crossed his mind. He had too many other ways of causing me pain to be bothered with that.”

She was shaking in his arms. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” the Doctor murmured, rocking her gently. Rose rested against him, closing her eyes. The world was going to hell, everyone she loved was in danger, and she had no idea how to fix it…

But being in the Doctor’s arms was a welcome escape from the horrors of this reality.

* * * * *

“Rose? Doctor?” Wilf called as he made his way through the corridors. “Hello? Hello? Is that you? Anyone?” His words echoed, but that was the only answer. “Oh, I think I’m lost,” he sighed.

“And yet you are found.” He jumped at the sound of a familiar voice, and turned to see the woman in white, the one from the TV, standing behind him. “Events are closing. The day is almost upon us. But tell me, old soldier. Did you take arms?”

He pulled his revolver out of his pocket, holding it up. “I brought this. But what am I supposed to do?”

“This is the Doctor’s final battle,” the woman said. “At the end of his life, he must stand at arms, or lose himself and all this world, to the End of Time.”

“But they don’t carry guns,” Wilf pointed out. “Who are you?”

“I was lost, so very long ago.”

Wilf looked down at the gun, examining it for a moment, and then looked back up — but the woman was gone.

* * * * *

The Doctor was hard at work, poking at wires with the sonic. Rose had moved to sit beside him, watching him with a distant gaze.

“Aye, aye,” Wilf called as he made his way back in. “Got this old tub mended?””

“Just trying to fix the heating,” the Doctor said.

“Oh.” Wilf wandered over to the window, peeking out. “Oh, I’ve always dreamed of a view like that.” He laughed a bit. “I’m an astronaut.” He sighed, examining the Earth. “It’s dawn over England, look. Brand new day. My wife’s buried down there. I might never visit her again now.”

Rose pushed herself up, going to wrap an arm around Wilf’s shoulder, holding him tight. “Do you think he changed them, in their graves?”

Well that was morbid. The Doctor looked up from his work. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Wilf shook his head.

“No, not your fault.”

“Isn’t it?”

_No_ , Rose said firmly.  _If anything it’s mine. I should have told you about the Master._

_Even if you had, neither of us could have predicted this was going to happen, Rose._

“Oh, nineteen-forty-eight, I was over there, _”_ Wilf said, pointing out the window. “End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop, in the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad.” He shook his head, turning away. “Yeah, you don’t want to listen to an old man’s tales, do you?”

“I’m older than you,” the Doctor pointed out. Wilf snorted.

“Get away.”

“I’m nine-hundred and six.”

“What, really, though?” Wilf sounded shocked.

“Yeah.”

Rose smiled as she went to sit with the Doctor, leaning against him. “Nine hundred years,”  Wilf breathed. “We must look like insects to you.”

The Doctor shook his head, kissing Rose’s temple. “I think you look like giants.”

“I’m almost seventy,” Rose said quietly. “Blimey, I’m gettin’ old.”

“Still as beautiful as the day I met you though,” the Doctor pointed out, and Rose laughed.

“Always the smooth talker.”

Wilf smiled a bit as he watched them, so clearly in love.

“Listen,” he said quietly, and they turned to look at them. “I…I want you to have this.” He held the revolver out to the Doctor. “I’ve kept it all this time, and I thought…”

His voice drifted off as the Doctor shook his head. “No.”

Wilf looked a bit surprised. “No, but if you take it, you could—”

“No,” the Doctor repeated firmly. “You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then.”

“Too scared, I suppose,” Wilf admitted, lowering the revolver again. The Doctor watched him for a long moment.

“I’d be proud,” he said finally. Wilf looked up.

“Of what?”

“If you were my dad.”

“Oh, come on, don’t you start,” Wilf scoffed. Rose reached over, squeezing his knee.

“I would be too.”

The man rested his hand over Rose’s, sighing. “The Master…he wants to kill you both, doesn’t he?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said. There was no point in denying it. It wasn’t like they didn’t already know.

“Then kill him first.”

“And that’s how the Master started,” The Doctor pointed out. “I’m not going to turn into him and I’m not taking Rose down that road.”

“Excuse me, Rose can speak for herself,” Rose piped up. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

“Do  _you_  want to kill him?” Rose hesitated, looking away. That caught the Doctor by surprise. “Do you? Rose?”

“You don’t know what he did to me, Doctor.” Her voice was low.

“You’re not a killer.”

Rose didn’t answer, but the Doctor could see it in her eyes.

She might be willing to make an exception.

“If the Master dies,” Wilf spoke up after a moment, “What happens to all the people?”

The Doctor didn’t answer. “Presumably, the template snaps,” Rose finally said, looking up again.

“What, they go back to being human?” Rose nodded. “They’re alive, and human. Then don’t you dare, sir. Don’t you dare put him before them. Now you take this. That’s an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life. And don’t die. Either of you. You’re the most wonderful beings I’ve ever met, and I don’t want either of you to die.”

Rose and the Doctor exchanged looks, and nodded.

“Never.”

“ _A star fell from the sky_.” They jumped as the Master’s voice echoed through the room. “ _Don’t you want to know where from?_ ”

Wilf watched as Rose paled a few shades, her arms tightening around the Doctor’s. What  _had_ the Master done to her, Wilf had to wonder, to reduce her to this?

“ _Because it makes sense, Doctor, Ms. Tyler. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond is Whitepoint Star. And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift._ ”

Rose started as a frightening mix of anger, shock, and fear jolted through the Doctor’s mind.

“ _Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor, Ms. Tyler. This should be spectacular. Over and out._ ”

“What’s he on about?” Wilf asked, confused. “What’s he doing? Doctor, what does that mean?”

“What’s a Whitepoint Star, Doctor?” Rose prompted quietly. That had elicited the reaction from him. It must have been something important.

Or dangerous.

When the Doctor answered, his voice was low. “A Whitepoint Star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey.” Rose’s heart skipped a beat at that. “Which means it’s the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay, I was visiting the in-laws last weekend. I'll still update tomorrow as well.


	8. The End Of Time Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (4/4)

Rose’s eyes went wide as she watched the Doctor’s face morph through a myriad of emotions — and felt the corresponding emotions in her head.

Wilf was oblivious. “Well, I mean, that’s good, isn’t it? I mean, that’s your people.”

No. No, it wasn’t good. That much was obvious.  _Doctor, what_ —

No answer. He grabbed Wilf’s revolver, taking off. Rose hurried after him, with Wilf right on her tail.

They ran onto the flight deck, where a signal was coming through in a very familiar rhythm. Rose tapped along to it without thinking.

“What’s that?” Addams asked, confused.

“Coming from Earth,” Rossiter reported. “It’s on every single wave length.”

 _Doctor, talk to me?_ Rose begged.  _What’s going on?_

The Doctor flew into a frenzy, running around the flight deck.  _They can’t be allowed to come back. They_ _ **can’t**_.

 _Yeah, I’m gathering that_.

“But you said your people were dead,” Wilf pointed out. “Past tense.”

“They’re trapped inside the Time War,” Rose corrected quietly. The Doctor was momentarily surprised, until he remembered that she had been alone with the TARDIS for a long time. She probably knew a few things. “The whole war was timelocked.  Like, sealed inside a bubble. It’s not a bubble but just think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or get out of the Timelock. Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there.”

Wilf blinked, putting the pieces together. “The signal,” he said, listening to the beat. “Since he was a kid.”

“If they can follow the signal,” the Doctor spoke up, “they can escape before they die.”

“Well then, big reunion.” Wilf still didn’t get it. “We’ll have a party.”

“No, we won’t,” the Doctor said, a bit harshly.

 _Doctor stop. He doesn’t know_.

“But I’ve heard you talk about your people like they’re wonderful,” Wilf protested. He didn’t understand. Why was the Doctor so upset? Wasn’t this a good thing?

“That’s how I choose to remember them,” the Doctor said, still running around. “The Time Lords of old. But then they went to war. An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You’ve seen our enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them.”

“Time Lords, what lords?” Addams demanded, bewildered. “Anyone want to explain?”

“Right, yes, you.” The Doctor turned to her. “This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“So you’ve got asteroid lasers!”

“Yeah, but they’re all frazzled,” Rossiter pointed out. The Doctor flipped a lever in response, and two gun alcoves opened up on either side of the flight controls.

“Consider them unfrazzled. You there, what’s your name?”

“Addams,” Rose reminded him quietly.

“Addams. Right. I’m going to need you on navigation.” To Rossiter, “And you, get in the laser pod. Wilfred?”

Wilf looked surprised to be included. “Yeah?”

“Laser number two. The old soldier’s got one more battle.”

“This ship can’t move,” Addams reminded the Doctor. “It’s dead!”

The Doctor just raised an eyebrow. “Fix the heating?”

He threw two levers forward, and the ship powered up. “But now they can see us.”

“Oh yes! Rose, with me.” There was only one person he trusted to help him pilot.

“This is my ship,” Addams informed them coldly as they went to the wheel. “And you’re not moving it. Step away from the wheel, both of you.”

Rose hesitated.  _Just get ready_ , the Doctor said, turning back to Addams. “There’s an old Earth saying, Captain. A phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need.”

“What’s that, then?”

The Doctor grinned a bit despite himself. “Allons-y!”

Rose twisted the wheel hard, sending them spiraling down to the Earth. They broke through the atmosphere, the Doctor and Rose steering in together easily.

“You are both, blinking, flipping mad!” Addams cried. The Doctor looked back at Rossiter and Wilf, who were holding on for dear life.

“You two. What did I say? Lasers.”

“What for?” Rossiter asked, bewildered.

“Because of the missiles. We’ve got to fight off an entire planet.”

They hurried to the pods.  _Are you gonna be okay to pilot through this?_ The Doctor asked as he and Rose worked.  _It’s going to get a bit mad._

 _I can handle it, Doctor. Focus_.

“We’ve got incoming,” Addams reported.

“Look at this one!” Rossiter gasped. “Oh, my god!”

“You two, open fire!” The Doctor called. They skimmed along the ocean, dodging in and out of missiles.

“Whoa!” Rose yelled, banking as sharp a left as she could manage.

“No, no, no, no, no!”

“Open fire!” The Doctor yelled. “Come on, Wilf!”

One of the missiles was blasted out of the air. “Ha!” Wilf yelled. “Oh, I wish Donna could see me now!”

“And there’s more!” Addams reported. “Sixteen of them. Oh, and another sixteen!”

“Then get on the rear gun lasers!” The Doctor ordered. “You two, open fire! Now!”

They swerved in and out of missiles, Wilf and Rossiter exchanging exclamations of joy as they flew along.

“Lock the navigation,” the Doctor informed Addams as they flew.

“Onto what?

“England. The Naismith mansion.”

They continued along, pulling up as they hit the shoreline. “Destination?”

“Fifty kliks and closing,” Addams said. “We’ve locked on to the house. We are going to stop, though.” The Doctor didn’t say anything. “Doctor? We are going to stop?”

Rose shot the Doctor a look.

 _What’s going on, love?_ He was shutting her out. She didn’t like it.  _What are you planning?_

The Doctor didn’t say anything for a long, long moment.

“Rose, step aside,” he said finally, nudging his wife out of the way. Rose gave him a hard look.

“What are you—”

They all fell back as the Doctor pulled the ship nose up at the last moment, and they flew above the mansion. The Doctor popped a hatch open.

“Doctor, what —  _DOCTOR_!”

Rose’s screech followed the Doctor as he jumped out of the ship.

 _What the_ _ **hell**_ _are you doing?!_ Rose raged in his head as he fell.

_This was the quickest way down!_

_If you die I swear to god I will bring you back to life and kill you again!_

_Well you—_

Could. She could. But the Doctor hit the glass dome and crashed through before he could finish that thought, hitting the marble floor.

_Doctor? **Doctor?!**_

The Doctor groaned, raising his head to see the group standing before him. He tried to hold the revolver out to point at them, but he couldn’t do it — it slipped out of his hand, clattering against the marble floor.

 _Doctor_ —

He shut down his mind. He couldn’t focus on Rose right then.

“My Lord Doctor,” a familiar voice said, and the Doctor forced his vision to clear so he could look up at the robed man. Rassilon. “My Lord Master. We are gathered for the end.”

* * * * *

“Move,” Addams ordered, trying to push Rose away from the steering wheel.

“Like  _hell_  I will,” Rose snarled. “We’re going to land and I’m going to go find him.”

“We are not going in there,” Addams snapped back. Rose’s eyes flashed, golden light flaring to life.

“And I am not leaving him alone down there. Go ahead and try and make me. See what happens.”

Addams backed off, wide-eyed. Even Wilf was a bit stunned.

No one tried to stop Rose as they landed.

“Let’s go, then,” Wilf said, grabbing the blonde’s hand.

_Wait, my Wolf._

Rose froze, eyes wide.  _What? What is it?_

_I have a quicker way to get you there. But it is going to hurt._

_Don’t care_ , Rose said without hesitation, pulling away from Wilf.  _Do it_.

Addams, Rossiter, and Wilf watched in shock as Rose disappeared in a flash of gold light.

* * * * *

“Listen to me,” the Doctor said, trying to reason with Rassilon. As if that were possible. “You can’t!”

“It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child,” Rassilon commented. The Doctor had to resist the urge to scoff.

 

“Oh, he’s not saving you. Don’t you realize what he’s doing?”

“Hey, no, hey!” The Master protested. “That’s mine. Hush. Look around you. I’ve transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them, because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord. Oh, yes, Mister President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think how much better you’re going to look as me.”

Rassilon held up a metal gauntlet, and a pulse of energy shot out, washing over everyone in the room. As they watched, all the faces started morphing back to normal.

“No, no, don’t!” The Master yelled. “No, no, stop it! No, no, no, don’t!”

But it was too late. Everyone had changed back. “On your knees, mankind,” Rassilon called. All the humans listened.

“No, that’s fine,” the Master said, forcing himself to be calm. “That’s good, because you said salvation. I still saved you. Don’t forget that.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes, prepared to respond — until a flash of gold burst to life at his side. He jumped back, watching it fade away — and there was Rose, blinking rapidly and more than a little out of it.

“Rose! What’re you—”

She held up a finger to silence him. “Catch me?”

He dove to grab her as her knees gave out. “Gotcha,” he said, letting her lean against him. “Since when can you teleport?”

“I think that might be a one time thing.” She hoped to god it was a one time thing. She never wanted to go through that again.

“What is this, then?” Rassilon asked, looking down at the Doctor. He twisted a bit, trying to hide Rose behind him. “You’ve bonded with a human.”

“She’s got nothing to do with this. Leave her out of it.”

“No matter. The approach begins,” Rassilon said. The Master blinked.

“Approach of what?”

“Something is returning,” the Doctor said, holding Rose a bit tighter. “Don’t you ever listen? That was the prophecy. Not someone, something.”

“What is it?” The Master demanded.

“They’re not just bringing back the species. It’s Gallifrey. Right here, right now.”

They looked up through the shattered glass dome to see a planet darkening the sky.

“But I did this,” The Master insisted. “I get the credit. I’m on your side.”

He sounded like a child, Rose noted as she pulled out of the Doctor’s arms, holding herself upright.

“Come on, get out of the way!” Wilf insisted, pushing his way through the crowd of people that was running in the other direction. “Rose? Doctor?”

He heard someone hammering against glass, and turned to see a technician locked in a glass both. “Help me, please,” the young man begged. “Somebody, please!”

“Alright!” Wilf said, hurrying over. “I’ve got you, mate. I’ve got you.”

Rose looked back to see Wilf going into the open booth.

“Wilf, don’t,” she called, trying to stop him. “Don’t!”

But it was too late — Wilf let the technician out and he ran away.

“But this is fantastic, isn’t it?” The Master asked the Doctor brightly. “The Time Lords restored.”

“You weren’t there in the final days of the War,” the Doctor disagreed. “You never saw what was born. But if the Timelock’s broken, then everything’s coming through. Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-have-been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres. The War turned into hell. And that’s what you’ve opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending.”

“My kind of world,” the Master said cheerily.

“Just listen!” The Doctor snapped, losing his patience. “Because even the Time Lords can’t survive that.”

“We will initiate the Final Sanction,” Rassilon announced. “The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart.”

The Master’s face fell as he turned to look at Rassilon. “But that’s suicide.”

“We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be.”

“You see now?” The Doctor asked the Master. “That’s what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them.”

The Master didn’t seem to care. “Then, take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory.”

“You are diseased,” Rassilon informed him. “Albeit a disease of our own making. No more.”

The Doctor gripped the revolver in his hand as he aimed it at Rassilon.

“Choose your enemy well,” the Time Lord president said. “We are many. The Master is but one.”

“But he’s the president,” the Master pointed out. “Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours.”

The Doctor hesitated before turning the gun on the Master. “He’s to blame, not me!” The Master insisted. “Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, they go back. You never would, you coward. Go on then. Do it.”

 

The Doctor swallowed hard before turning to face the president once more. “Exactly,” the Master egged him on. “It’s not just me. It’s him. He’s the link. Kill him!”

“The final act of your life is murder,” Rassilon said. “But which one of us?”

A small hand rested itself on the barrel of the revolver. The Doctor started, surprised, and looked down at Rose. He could only stand there as she carefully eased the revolver out of his hand and turned it back to the Master.

“Oh ho, Ms. Tyler!” The Master sounded amused. “So you’ll be the one to kill me. I’d like to see you try.”

Rose rested her finger on the trigger, face impassive.

 _Wait!_ She jumped at the Doctor’s voice in her head.  _The diamond. Shoot the diamond. When he moves, shoot the diamond_.

Rose hesitated for a long moment. Part of her really did want to kill the Master.

But that wasn’t what the Doctor would do.

 _Okay_.

The Doctor turned to look at the Master. “Get out of the way,” he ordered. The Master moved, and Rose shot at the diamond. The bullet hit, the and the machine exploded.

“The link is broken,” the Doctor said as he turned back to the group of Time Lords behind them. “Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell!”

“You’ll die with me, Doctor,” Rassilon informed him. “You and your human.”

Rose let the gun drop to the floor as she turned back to the Time Lords, and she her hand slid down to take the Doctor’s.

_Together?_

_Together_.

They stood their ground as Rassilon aimed his gauntlet at them…

“Get out of the way.”

And they turned to look at the Master. He stepped forward, in front of them, and he began firing bolts of energy at Rassilon.

“You did this to me!” He raged as he attacked. “All of my life! You made me! One! Two! Three! Four!”

They watched as the Master forced Rassilon to his knees — and then a great bright flash of light burst to life.

When it faded, the Master and the Time Lords were gone. And Gallifrey had disappeared from the sky.

Rose and the Doctor just stared, shocked, at the place where the Time Lords had been.

“It’s over,” Rose breathed, eyes wide.

“Yeah.”

They exchanged looks — and Rose threw her arms around the Doctor with a force that nearly knocked him off his feet. He caught her, hugging her tight for a moment before pulling her back to kiss her good and soundly.

_I love you. I love you I love you I love you._

_I love you too. I love you too. God I love you too_.

They broke apart, still holding on to one another and just enjoying being in the other’s presence.

_Knock knock knock knock._

_Knock knock knock knock._

They turned slowly to see Wilf. He was still in glass case. Something inside was beeping.

 _Oh no_ …

“They gone, then?” Wilf asked. “Yeah, good-o. If you could let me out?”

Rose turned to look at the Doctor. He’d gone pale.  _Doctor…?_

“Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise.”

The Doctor stepped away from Rose, dropping her hand. “The Master left the Nuclear Bolt running,” he said quietly. “It’s gone into overload.”

“And that’s bad, is it?” Wilf asked, not understanding. The TARDIS was humming mournfully in the back of Rose’s head. She knew what was coming.

“No,” the Doctor said quietly. “Because all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand rads, about to flood that thing.”

“Oh. Well, you’d better let me out.”

The Doctor didn’t move quite yet though. “Doctor…” Rose said quietly.

“Yeah,” he responded in kind. To Wilf, “Except it’s gone critical. Touch one control and it floods.” He held up his sonic screwdriver. “Even this would set it off.”

Wilf’s face fell as he realized what this meant. To let him out…one of them would have to go in the other booth. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Neither of them answered. “Look, just leave me.”

Again, he was ignored. “I can do it,” Rose said quietly. “I’ll survive. The TARDIS will save me.”

“Rose that amount of radiation will  _destroy_  your body. The TARDIS can’t protect you from that.”

“And if  _you_  go in?”

They both knew the answer. He would regenerate.

“I’m an old man, I’ve lived my life,” Wilf said desperately, trying to make them listen. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t be the reason this beautiful couple was separated.

Again.

“Please, just leave me.”

“I…I can do that teleport thing again, the TARDIS can help, I did it once—”

 _That is too dangerous, my Wolf_ , the TARDIS spoke up regretfully.  _It requires too much of your energy._

The Doctor heard the words too, through Rose’s mind. He closed his eyes, sighing.

“Just let me,” Rose begged, tears stinging in her eyes. She would always love him, no matter what he looked like. But she had  _just_  gotten him back. She couldn’t stand the thought of losing him already. “I promised Donna I would look after him, he’s my responsibility—”

She cut off as the Doctor’s lips crashed down on hers, kissing her deeply. While she was distracted, his hands slid up, fingers touching her temples.

“I love you, Rose Tyler,” he whispered against her lips. “I’m sorry.”

Her body crumpled as he knocked her out. He caught her quickly, lowering her to the ground. “What did you do?” Wilf asked quietly as he watched the Doctor straighten up.

“She doesn’t need to see this,” the Doctor said simply, walking to the other glass booth. Wilf’s eyes widened.

“No,” he begged. “No, no, please, please don’t. No, don’t! Pleas don’t! Please!”

The Doctor stopped outside the second booth, giving Wilf a rather brittle smile. “Wilfred, it’s my honor. Better be quick.” He took a deep breath. “Three, two, one.”

And with that he rushed into the booth, pressing the button to unlock Wilf’s door. Wilf ran out, hurrying to Rose’s side and kneeling down with her, looking back just in time to see red light flood through the Doctor’s booth. At the same time Rose shot up, gasping, as the Doctor’s pain invaded her mind.

“ _No_!” She cried as the Doctor collapsed to the ground, curling up in a ball. She tried to run to him but Wilf grabbed her, pulling her back and holding her tight despite her struggles. “No, let me go Wilf! Let me go!  _Doctor_!”

It was only a few moments before the light faded, the power in the booth shutting down.  _Doctor? Doctor?!_

He groaned mentally as he pushed himself up. Wilf just stared, shocked. “What? Hello.”

“Hi,” the Doctor replied quietly.

 _I’m going to kill you_ , Rose informed fiercely.

 _Well if you don’t like the next body that’s always an option._ The joke was weak. Rose wasn’t amused.

“Still with us?” Wilf asked, wondering why Rose wasn’t saying anything. Maybe she was angry.

“The system’s dead. I absorbed it all. Whole thing’s kaput.” The door clicked, opening slowly. “Oh. Now it opens, yeah.”

He stepped out and Rose forced her way out of Wilf’s arms, running to the Doctor and hugging him tight. He caught her with shaking arms, crushing her against him. Wilf smiled a bit as he stood up, walking to the couple.

“Well, there were are, then. Safe and sound. Mind you, you’re in hell of a state. You’ve got some battle scars there.”

The Doctor brought a hand up, rubbing his face tiredly…and Wilf’s mouth dropped as the Time Lord’s hand fell away. His face was clean.

“But they’ve…your face. How did you do that?”

The Doctor looked down at his hands, also healed. Rose pulled back to meet him with tears in her eyes.

“It’s started.”

* * * * *

“ _Mum_!”

Sylvia Noble jumped as the front door crashed open. She went out to the front hall just in time to see Donna before her daughter hugged her tight.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Sylvia assured her, patting her back before pulling away. “Are you alright? Where’s Shaun?”

“Uh…I left him in Bath. I’ll call him in a bit. Where’s Gramps, is he back yet?”

Right on cue, the sound of the TARDIS materializing hit their ears. They ran outside just as it solidified, and the door opened. Wilf was the first one out.

“Gramps!”

“Dad!”

Wilf found himself in his girls’ arms, and he returned the hug with as much strength as he could manage.

The door creaked open again, Rose and the Doctor stepping out but staying back. Donna looked over at them, frowning at the looks on their faces.

Something was wrong.

Wilf pulled away from Sylvia and Donna to turn and look at the couple behind him. “What about you two? Will you be alright?”

“Oh yes,” the Doctor said, taking Rose’s hand and squeezing tight. “Long as we’ve got each other, we’ll be okay.”

Donna watched with a frown as Rose leaned into the Doctor. She looked ready to cry. “Rose…?”

“We should get goin’,” the blonde said suddenly. “Do me a favor, get a hold of Martha? Let her know everything is okay and the Master’s gone.”

“I…yeah, ‘course I will, but what—”

They were already disappearing back into the TARDIS, though. Donna made a face, looking back at Wilf. She was surprised to see tears in her grandfather’s eyes as he saluted the TARDIS.

“Gramps? What’s going on?”

He didn’t answer.

* * * * *

Rose sat the Doctor down in the jump seat and went to send them back into orbit. Once they were safe in the vortex she went to sit with him, taking his hand in both of hers and holding on tight, resting her head on the Doctor’s shoulder.

“What happens now?” She asked quietly.

“The radiation will destroy my body slowly,” the Doctor explained. “It’s…probably going to be painful.”

Rose squeezed his hand a bit tighter. “Is there anythin’ I can do?”

The Doctor closed his eyes, resting his head against Rose’s. “Just talk.”

Her voice helped everything.

Rose pursed her lips for a long moment, trying to think of what she could say. “Um…oh, Shakespeare. Wanna hear about meeting Shakespeare?”

The Doctor laughed a bit at that. “Yeah. You mentioned witches?”

“Well, not really  _witches_. Carrionites actually. They’re still bangin’ around somewhere in the TARDIS, actually, trapped them in a small crystal. Anyways they were using Shakespeare to create a…spell…of sorts so they could bring back the other Carrionites and make the Earth their new planet. We saved the world with Harry Potter — well, Martha did technically. She was brilliant. That was her first trip and she saved the planet.”

The Doctor had to smile. “She sounds amazing.”

“She  _was_. Still is, really. Her and Mickey are gonna be great together.” She turned to press a kiss to the Doctor’s neck, sighing deeply. “Wanna hear about Agatha Christie?”

“Oh yes. Is she as brilliant as I think it is?”

“Probably more so. It was this whole thing, there was a shape-shifting wasp and murder, and I solved a mystery with Agatha Christie.”

“Ha!”

“It was incredible. We also solved the mystery of those two days she disappeared. Turns out it was my fault. Bad landing.” She brushed her thumb along the Doctor’s knuckles. His hand was shaking a bit.

“Do you remember when we first met?” Rose asked after a moment. The Doctor smiled a bit.

“Best day of my life.”

Rose brought his hand up, kissing his knuckles. “I was so scared, ya know. Trapped in the basement with those mannequins. All I could think was ‘I’m gonna die in my least favorite sweatshirt.’”

The Doctor chuckled at that. “But you didn’t.”

“Nope. A knight in leather armor saved me.”

“Some knight,” the Doctor snorted. Rose lifted her head to kiss his cheek.

“My knight.”

The Doctor’s responding smile became a grimace of pain as he doubled over, taking a deep breath. Rose rubbed his back gently; she could feel his pain.

“It’s gettin’ worse,” she said quietly as it passed. The Doctor nodded, picking himself up again. Rose gathered him in her arms, hugging him tight and kissing his temple.

“I know I told you about Midnight — did I ever tell you about Dee Dee and Jethro?”

“I don’t think so, no.”

“They were the two youngest on the bus. Jethro was…sixteen? Seventeen? Deep into the rebellious teenager phase. His parents made him come, he refused to sit with them. Dee Dee was an assistant with a professor who was on the trip — self-proclaimed know-it-all of all things Midnight. He was awful to her, treated her like she was an idiot. And Jethro’s parents kept treating him like his opinion didn’t matter because he was young. Anyways they ended up breaking away — Jethro’s parents kicked him out when he told them he was gay, Dee Dee quit being the professor’s assistant. But they stayed friends. They picketed the Midnight resort when management refused to shut it down, they traveled together, they ended up moving in together, actually. Jethro became a social worker to help kids in bad home situations, Dee Dee became a professor.” Rose wondered what they were doing now. Something brilliant, she was sure.

“Well if you like them then they must be amazing,” the Doctor commented. Rose smiled.

“Oh, I never told you about the second time I met Donna. I was investigatin’ this place called Adipose Industries, had this amazing weight-loss pill. Donna was lookin’ for me and investigatin’ the place as well, we ran into each other — sort of. I saw her through a window. Unfortunately the bad guys were right there and saw us. Nearly dropped Donna off a building. She wasn’t amused.”

As Rose spoke she tangled her fingers in the Doctor’s hair, brushing through the brown locks. He leaned into her touch, sighing. “You had so many adventures,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry you got stuck with all that.’

“I’m not,” Rose replied without hesitation. “It was rough at times but…I met Donna. And I met Martha. And I got you back. And that makes it worth it to me. I don’t regret a single minute of this.”

The Doctor smiled, bringing his free hand up to brush his fingers against her cheek. “I don’t either.”

Rose felt the burning pain in her mind about half a second before the Doctor cried out, nearly falling off the seat. She caught him, holding him up right, and her stomach dropped when she saw his hands glowing gold.

The Doctor stared at his hands in horror. “I don’t want to go,” he whispered, voice cracking. It wasn’t  _fair_. He wanted more time!

Rose held him tight, pulling him in and kissing the top of his head. “I love you,” she whispered into his hair, rocking him slightly. “I love you, I love you, I love you. I will  _always_  love you, no matter what happens. I’m never gonna leave you.”

The Doctor held her tight for a long moment — but he needed to get away from her now. He knew he did.

It took every bit of strength the Doctor could muster to push himself up, away from Rose. Rose stood but kept her distance, watching him stagger to the middle of the console room. He looked back, meeting her gaze.

“I love you.”

And then he exploded in golden light.

It felt as if someone had set Rose’s mind on fire. She’d never thought to ask what regeneration felt like, but this must have been it. She squinted her eyes against the light, trying to focus against the pain, barely aware of the explosions around her.

…And just like that, it was over. The light faded away and a gangly man staggered, catching himself on the console looking around. “Ooooh — what? Oh I don’t like this voice,” he complained, focusing on Rose. “Hair?”

Rose blinked, shaking her head. “Not ginger.”

“ _Really?_ ” He groaned. “Blimey. Ah well.” His face turned serious as he focused on Rose. “Are you alright?”

She nodded distantly, still looking him over. Floppy hair, big chin, green eyes. “Rose?” The Doctor asked, concerned, stepping forward. “What—”

But then the TARDIS lurched, sending Rose crashing to the ground while the Doctor hit the console. “What’s going on?!”

“Ah, well — I think we’re crashing!”

“What?!” Blimey couldn’t he regenerate without crashing the TARDIS?!

“No time, just hang on!” The Time Lord laughed as he grabbed a lever and set to work. “Geronimo!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I just kind of wanted this to be done. I'm still debating if I want to post The Eleventh Hour or not since no one's really been interested. We'll see what happens I guess.
> 
> Thank you as always to everyone who did take the time to review, and I hope you've enjoyed the story.


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